"sling arms" (not in OED2) -- why not before 1824?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/22/2014 09:14 AM, Amy West wrote:
>On 4/22/14, 12:02 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>
>1711   Mil. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4) ,   Slings are Leather Thongs, made
>fast to both Ends of the Musket, and serving for the Men to hang them
>by on their Shoulders.
>
>>B.  The OED.
>>B.1  As a verb.
>>
>>The 1749 quotation perhaps fits under "sling, v.2" sense 3, which
>>already has:
>>1688   R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iii. xix. 153/1   Granadeers haue
>>a care. Sling your musketts.
>Well, that was a ton of fun to work on,  Joel. Thanks!
>
>I'm really intrigued that we have the verb earlier than the noun.

Not too much earlier -- 1688 vs. 1711.  And of course this applies
only to the "strap attached to a rifle, etc." (sense 3.a) -- "sling,
n.2" as a device for hoisting (sense 1.a) goes back to 1323-4.

Joel


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

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