From Slashdot:

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/9/2012 04:21 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:

>"Paper products maker Kimberly-Clark _drove the morale of its
>IT-infrastructure group into the ground_, after massive firings and
>outsourcings."
>
>Can you really say that? I've always interpreted "run ... into the
>ground" as meaning "to do more than is needed or wanted, to carry to
an extreme.""

Yes you can, and I can too.  And as early as 1836 (probably (a)
below) and 1884 ((b) below).

OED:  S.v. "run, v.", sense P3.g. "orig. U.S. to run into the
ground:  (a) to carry (a thing) to excess, to overdo;  (b) to destroy
or damage beyond repair by excessive use, to wear out; to exhaust or
overcome through constant pressure, uncompromising or demanding
treatment, etc."

I wondered if it might have arisen with the early attempts to fly, but no.

Joel





>Youneverknow.
>
>Oh, wait! This is "drive," not "run." That's all right, then.
>
>--
>-Wilson
>-----
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-Mark Twain
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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