[Ads-l] The cavalry arrives in the nick of time.

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting phrase, JL. In 1885 "cavalry is shown as coming up in the
nick of time".

[ref] 1885 October, The Army and Navy Quarterly, Volume 1, Number 4,
The Functions of Cavalry in Modern War by Major Graves, Twentieth
Hussars, Part 2, (Read before the Royal United Service Institution),
Start Page 405, Quote Page 408, L. R. Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) link [/ref]

https://books.google.com/books?id=rfXNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22nick+of%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
The action of Tamai affords an example in which cavalry is shown as
coming up in the nick of time, dismounting, firing, and thus checking
the enemy's advance, gave our infantry time to re-form.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Nov 30, 2021 at 11:37 AM Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [1914 _Baltimore Sun_ (June 14) Italians Burn Two Churches...Had not a
> detachment of cavalry arrived there in the nick of time, the rioters, who
> had sprinkled the cathedral with petroleum, would have caused its utter
> destruction.]
>
> 1924  _Miami Herald_ (Nov. 16) 22: Some of his experiences during the
> Indian wars have been made the basis of novels....The cavalry actually
> arrived in the nick of time.
>
> 1931 _New Orleans States_ (Feb. 2) 8:  "Beau Ideal," sequel to "Beau
> Geste," is featured on the screen....The cavalry arrives in the nick of
> time and the boys are freed.
>
> 1932 _Boston Globe_ (July 20) 14: The good old days, when the United States
> Cavalry always arrived in the nick of time.
>
> 1936 _Trenton Evening Times_ (Parade of Youth) 6: _Wild West_...starring
> Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey...But the United States Cavalry arrives in
> the nick of time to save everybody.
>
> 1939 _Dallas Morning News_ (July 9) 8: The McKinney Examiner, like the
> Second U.S. Cavalry, arrives in the nick of time.
>
> 1953 _Springfield [Mass.] Sunday Republican_ (Dec. 13) 16C:  The cavalry
> arrived in the nick of time in the shape of two bluecoats [police officers]
> who didn't understand the Micmac language.
>
> Etc.
>
> JL
>
> --
>
>
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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