[Ads-l] "a race against time"

[Jonathan Lighter]

'A crucial attempt to thwart a looming danger or defeat as rapidly as
possible.'

Don't see it in OED.

I hadn't realized there was a more or less literal meaning of this phrase
till I looked it up in Readex and found this:

1791 _N.Y. Daily Gazette_ (Nov. 29) 2: Particulars on the race against
time, on the Curragh, at the late meeting, by Mr. Wilde....Mr. Wilde...on
his own proposal was taken up to ride 127 miles, Engl[i]sh measure, in nine
hours.

And here is an early fig. ex.:

1805 _Alexandria [Va.] Daily Advertiser_  (July 6) 3: Admiral Cochrane,
therefore, ... will probably be compelled ... to remit proceedings until he
is reinforced. ... Thus an attack would be very hazardous, and this
important settlement [sc. Jamaica] would have little other dependence for
her safety than a race against time.

Frequent in the 19th century are reports of "A Foot Race Against Time." The
fig. sense seems not to reappear in the Readex newspapers for decades,
becoming common only in the 20th century.

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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