Burgle (1865); Comment on "burgler"

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Earlier I had found an October, 1867 usage of "burgle," which
antedates that which appears in the OED by about four years (see far
below)  Below are some earlier examples, mostly from 1867, though
there's one from 1865 too.  Nothing spectacular, of course.

But bringing up "burgle" gives me the opportunity to point out that
the OED doesn't do much for the not uncommon "burgler" (a person who
burgles) as a historical variant of "burglar" except to include a 1516
French usage of "burglers" in the entry for the latter.  It looks like
"burgler," the earliest example of which I found in an English text
published in 1611, persisted in English -- on both sides of the
Atlantic -- well into the 19th century.

-- Bonnie

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[Antedatings of "burgle"]

The city fathers cannot bring themselves to consent to such an
innovation ["officers of the peace"] upon the ancient customs of
Janesville as to organize a police force, and so the burglars continue
to burgle, except as they are deterred therefrom by the vigilence
[sic] of the [citizens] themselves.  [From "Burglaries in Janesville,"
Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, 2 October 1865, p. 1; via Gale News.]

In St. Louis burglars' [sic] burgle by daylight.  [The Evening Star
(Washington, DC), 9 March 1867, p. 1, col. 6; via genealogybank.com.]

When you become satisfied that there are burglars in the house, cover
up your head with the bedclothes and let them burgle.  [From a piece
with an illegible title, originally published in the Racine Journal,
and reprinted in The Daily Milwaukee News, 20 April 1867, p. 4, col.
5; via newspapers.com.]

The New York World seems to be endeavoring to naturalize the word
"burgle," a verb derived from the noun burglar.  [From "In General,"
The Boston Daily Advertiser, 27 May 1867, p. 1; via Gale News.  This
was reprinted, usually without attribution, in several British
publications the following month.]

Since some historical importance is likely to be attached to the
speech, and inasmuch as the telegraph burgled the brief report I sent
through that channel, it may be worth while for me to give your
readers as full a sketch as possible from the notes I took at the
time, and which I fortunately preserved.  [By a special correspondent
to The New York Times, from "Senator Wade's Speech at Lawrence,
Kansas," Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), 24 June 1867,
p. 2; via geneaologybank.com.]

A New Orleans cotemporary [sic] suggests as a pendant to the recent
verb "to burgle," denoting a violent robbery, the verb "to Buttle"
denoting a subtle seizer and absorption.  [From "In General," The
Daily News and Herald (Savannah, GA), 10 October 1867, p. 4; via Gale
News.]

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