[Ads-l] Intransitive "publish"

[Ben Zimmer]

Intransitive "publish" is pretty common these days. OED3 breaks it down
into two senses: 3c (of an author, as in "publish or perish") and 3d (of a
work -- as Vox uses it). Examples for the latter sense date back to 1849:

1849   Times 13 Aug. 10/2 (advt.)    Amusement while travelling--Publishing
monthly, one shilling each, the Railway Library.
1918   C. S. Lewis Let. 27 Oct. (1966) 45   He [sc. Heinemann] told me that
John Galsworthy (who publishes with them) had seen my MS.
1928   Public Opinion 6 Apr. 325/1   The newspapers do not publish on Good
Friday.
1972   Evening Telegram (St. John's, Newfoundland) 24 June 1/1   The
Evening Telegram will publish Monday, June 26 which is being observed as
Discovery Day in Newfoundland.

I'd say the intransitive usage has been further popularized in the age of
online publishing. Among journalists you typically hear things like "this
just published" (i.e., just appeared online via publishing software), or if
you're in a hurry, "this just pubbed."


On Wed, Oct 10, 2018 at 2:49 PM Marc Sacks <msacksg at gmail.com> wrote:

> I just encountered this in a "Vox" article:
>
> Enterprising Southern women have been trading on this platonic ideal of a
> lifestyle forever. The latest is Reese Witherspoon, whose book *Whiskey in
> a Teacup*
> <
> https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FWhiskey-Teacup-Reese-Witherspoon%2Fdp%2F1471166228
> >
> published last month.
>
> Shouldn't that be "was published," or is it perhaps self-published? Has any
> of you encountered the transitive "publish" elsewhere? It's new to me.
>
>

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