[Ads-l] Antedating of "Lunch"

[Jonathan Lighter]

My feeling for period prose suggests to me that it's a verbal use.

Still a notable antedating.

JL

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 10:03 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Antedating of "Lunch"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> lunch (OED, lunch n.2 2.a., 1829)
>
> 1815 _Cobbett's Political Register_ 18 Nov. 200 (ProQuest)  But, be sure,
> D=
> ick, to wrap your bag well up in your clothes, during winter, or, when you
> =
> come to lunch, you may, to your great surprise, find your food transformed
> =
> into pebbles.
>
> [NOTE:  It is possible that this is an example of _lunch_, v. (OED 1823),
> r=
> ather than illustrating the nominal use of the word.]
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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