"sling arms" (not in OED2) -- [1749], 1824

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/17/2014 10:53 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Presumably the collocation long preceded the command.

It would be good to check EEBO and ECCO for "sling arms" and
variants.  My limited search did not find it at an early date in GBooks.


>One could easily sling a bow and a quiver, for example.

True, the bow hoist by its own petard (so to speak) rather than a
separate sling.

Joel


>JL
>
>
>On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 8:28 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "sling arms" (not in OED2) -- [1749], 1824
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On 4/17/14, 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > > Date:    Wed, 16 Apr 2014 16:27:24 -0400
> > > From:    "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject: Re: "sling arms" (not in OED2) -- [1749], 1824
> > >
> > > Dan,
> > >
> > > I think this is the best interpretation yet.  I don't find "sl?ng*
> > > arm*" in the OED or "sling arms" before 1824 ("Constitution of the
> > > New England Guards", p. 54, a command) in GBooks.  But John Gittins's
> > > "A compleat System of Military Discipline" (1735), p. 14, does have a
> > > command "Sling your Firelock" (certainly an Arm) -- hang the firelock
> > > and "let fall your Hands to your Sides".
> > >
> > > Joel
> > It makes sense as a command for long firearms as they have slings on
> > them. Not so much for spear & sword, and I haven't heard a command like
> > that in 1630s pike drill.
> >
> > ---Amy West
> >
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