Q: OED quotations for "flying

[Jonathan Lighter]

Could Ofxford have goofed?

JL

On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 4:25 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:      Q: OED quotations for "flying
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> The OED has for sense 4.a, "That passes or travels swiftly, that
> passes by rapidly or rushes along; rapid. flying leap: a running jump
> [etc.]" the earliest citation as 1658.
>
> But it then has for sense 4.b, "esp. in flying post, a post
> travelling by relays of horses, an express [etc.]." the earliest
> citation as 1548.
>
> Why shouldn't the 1548 quotation for 4.b, which is a subclass of
> sense 4.a, be shown in 4.a itself?  Particularly when 4.a includes
> some compounds, and the 4.b quotation is (much) earlier.
>
> Joel
>
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