[Ads-l] Antedating of "kingpin"

[Steven Losie]

KINGPIN (n. 2b., OED3, 1861)

This is the figurative/extended sense of "kingpin". OED gives the
definition: "A person who or thing which plays a central part in a system
or complex arrangement".

A decade ago on this mailing list, Victor Steinbok traced back the various
figurative meanings of "kingpin" and suggested the extended usage may have
first been popularized in New York City in the 1800s:

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2012-May/119584.html

The OED's first citation in this sense comes from the 10 December 1861
edition of the New York Herald. Ben Zimmer has clipped an earlier source at
newspapers.com, where the same figurative sense is used in the New York
Herald on 29 April 1844. Here is an earlier attestation, also from New York
City:

[begin quote]

It at present strikes me that the _king pin_ of the Anti-Clintonian party
in your city is well aware that the people will never submit to an enormous
load of taxes to support the dignity of the state to their ruin[...]

[end quote]

Source: The Daily Advertiser (New York, NY), 24 March 1789, p.2, col.4

Article title: An extract of a letter from a gentleman in the country to
his friend in this city. (The letter is dated 15 March 1789.)

Database: America's Historical Newspapers (Readex/NewsBank)

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