"to bilk" with object not a person

[Garson O'Toole]

> Fielding has personified the "lodgings".   Is this new or interesting
> enough to record?

Charles Dickens and the Canadian painter Cornelius Krieghoff use the
phrase "bilking the toll".

Samuel Richardson uses "bilk my lodgings" in Clarissa (1748). Of
course Fielding was familiar with the writings of Richardson because
he parodied Pamela with Shamela.Tom Jones was published in 1749.

Garson

On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 4:52 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "to bilk" with object not a person
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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