[Ads-l] Antedating rainmaker WAS Re: rain = clients (that bring in revenue)

Mon Jul 16 15:03:06 UTC 2018

And "rainmaker" can be slightly antedated:

_Dixon [Illinois] Evening Telegraph_ 25 Jul 1895 p 3 col 4 [newspapers.com]
[headline]
"FINANCIAL RAINMAKERS
Free Silver Charlatans Endeavoring to Humbug the People."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Zimmer
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2018 2:02 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Re: rain = clients (that bring in revenue)
> 
> 
> Appears to be a kind of back-formation from "rainmaker." OED3 has the relevant sense:
> 
> ----
> 4. fig. Business (orig. U.S.). A person who generates business or income for a company or organization, esp. by attracting clients.
> 1897   Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 8 Dec. 4/2   He does not make any
> special exhibit of his financial rain maker, Mr. Wolcott.
> 1971   Washington Post 16 May b3/1   'He was mostly a rainmaker,' the kind
> of legal agent who makes things happen.
> 1989   Toronto Star (Nexis) 26 Mar. f2   These are the rainmakers who are
> leaving. These are the guys who bring in the business.
> 1999   N.Y. Mag. 20 Sept. 32/3   A Democratic rainmaker who raised $1.5
> million for Democratic candidates.
> 2002   P. Augar & J. Palmer Rise Player Manager xiii. 286   Heroes in the
> professions are those in the front line: the star barristers, the rainmakers in corporate finance, the creatives in advertising.
> ----
> 
> 

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