"to bilk" with object not a person

[Joel S. Berson]

OK. so the Fielding is not new.  (I happened upon it while doing
something else, and did not do any further searching.)  So what's
left is -- is the trans. sense with object not a person interesting?

Joel

At 9/28/2010 04:52 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org