[Ads-l] "shot" = 'hypodermic injection' (1889)

[James Eric Lawson]

Eureka (Nevada) weekly sentinel, June 16, 1888, Image 2, col 5:

N. T. Richmond, a well-known
sporting man throughout the mining
camps of Eastern Nevada, met his
death in Tuscarora early this morning,
through a “shot” of morphine,
administered by an acquaintance for
the purpose of inducing sleep.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86076200/1888-06-16/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1850&index=1&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=morphine+shot&proxdistance=5&date2=1888&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=shot+of+morphine&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

On 2/17/21 11:21 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> A recent Washington Post column by John Kelly discusses OED researcher Jon
> Simon's hunt for antedatings for "shot" in the sense of 'hypodermic
> injection' (OED2 1904).
> 
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/needle-shot-morphine-addiction/2021/02/15/288282d2-6fa8-11eb-93be-c10813e358a2_story.html
> 
> The earliest citation mentioned in the column is this one from 1889.
> 
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71304687/the-hypo-gun/
> San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 2, 1889, p. 5, col. 8
> The Hypo-Gun. How Morphine Victims Are Fed
> The morphine victim is cared for there -- as long as he has money. In all
> the houses frequented by the "fiends" is a man or a woman who sells the
> drug and injects it for a small sum. This useful person is called the
> "gunner," the syringe is termed the "gun," and administers to the fiend an
> injection, that is "a shot," for which he is paid 5 cents.
> ---
> 
> --bgz
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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