"steal (someone's) thunder", 1858; OED 1900--

Sat Oct 5 16:27:59 UTC 2013

Here is Fred's information in the Yale Books of Quotations:

[Begin excerpt]
John Dennis
English writer, 1657–1734

[Upon hearing thunder sound effects invented by him used in a
performance ofMacbeth,after his own play featuring the effects had
closed following a short run at the same theater, 1709:] They will not
have my play, yet steal my thunder. Quoted in A New and General
Biographical Dictionary new ed. (1798). Alexander Pope, The Dunciad
(note to book 2) (1729), quotes Dennis: ‘‘S’death! that is my
thunder!’
[End excerpt]

On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 12:09 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:      "steal (someone's) thunder", 1858; OED 1900--
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> " ... nothing strongly marked or ludicrous
> escaped her. She would constantly tell me of
> these things, and add: 'Now, I shall use that
> some day; so don't steal my thunder.' "
>
> Godey's Lady's Book, vol. 56 (1858), p. 346, col.
> 2.  By Alice B. [Neal] Haven, "Personal
> Reminiscences of Miss Eliza Leslie."  GBooks, full view.
>
> Antedates OED2 "thunder, n." 3.d., 1900--.
>
> Since, as the etymology of the OED says, this is
> "Derived from the utterance of John Dennis
> (1657–1734)", one might expect to find something
> between him and 1858.  I didn't in GBooks.
>
> Joel
>
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