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

[Joel S. Berson]

All very well and good, Garson -- but these uses,
by Dennis and in 1747 (and all other instances in
GBooks before 1858), are all literal: the thunder
stolen was Dennis's sound effect of thunder.  The
OED sense (3.d) is figurative, and dates from 1900.

Fred, or Garson, does the Yale Book of Quotations
make a distinction between Dennis's literal use and the figurative?

Joel

At 10/5/2013 12:32 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>Here is the distinctive phrase "steal my thunder" in 1747:
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=OscGAAAAQAAJ&q=%22my+thunder%22#v=snippet&
>
>On Sat, Oct 5, 2013 at 12:27 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
><adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Here is Fred's information in the Yale Books of Quotations:
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > John Dennis
> > English writer, 1657­1734
> >
> > [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:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the
> mail header -----------------------
> >> 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
> >> (1657­1734)", one might expect to find something
> >> between him and 1858.  I didn't in GBooks.
> >>
> >> Joel
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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