"to bilk" with object not a person
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Sep 28 20:52:58 UTC 2010
In Tom Jones (Fielding) there is the following passage:
"And do you intend to make a secret of your going away?" said Jones. "I
promise you," answered Nightingale, "I don't intend to bilk my
lodgings; but I have a private reason for not taking a formal leave."
{Gutenberg.]
This seems most close to OED2's:
3. To 'do (a person) out' of (his due); to cheat, defraud; to evade
payment of (a debt).
1672 LOCKE in Fox Bourne Life I. v. 268 A man that had bilked
one of the most considerable men of the place.
Fielding has personified the "lodgings". Is this new or interesting
enough to record?
Joel
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