[Ads-l] "corner, n.1", 13.b,, in whist, 1754; antedates OED2 1823-

Joel Berson berson at ATT.NET
Wed May 18 23:55:58 UTC 2016


1754 The Connoisseur 3 Dec. (vol. 1, no. 45) 265 a game at Whist was played at White's for 1000 l. a corner

If such quotations are given author's credit in the OED, it should go to Mr. Town, Critic and Censor-General.


The meaning of "corner" is revealed to me via

(1) the quotation of a1825:   "R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830)    Corner, a point in a rubber at whist. We say we play sixpences or a shilling a corner, not sixpenny or shilling points."; and


(2), Wikipedia on scoring in whist:  "After all tricks have been played, the side which won more tricks scores 1 point for each trick won in excess of 6."

Joel

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list