[Ads-l] "on the Q.T." (antedating to 1870)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

OED has an 1876 citation for "on the Q.T.," though it looks like Jonathan
Green places the same text to 1874 (
https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/2qrupha#w62pcii).

Green's dictionary further has an example of "on the strict QT" from 1880,
while the OED shows an 1885 instance.

Here are some slightly earlier examples of "on the [extreme] Q.T."

-- Bonnie

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Unfortunately for John NIGHTINGALL, Albania, 4 yrs, 6st 2lb, is dead; and
Cecil, 5 yrs, 7st 5lb, has been removed from Epson to be on "the extreme
q.t." at Holywell Copse. [VATICINATOR, "Reflections and Anticipations,"
Sunday Times (London), 8 May 1870, p. 6. Via Gale Primary Sources. About
racehorses, if it wasn't apparent.]

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They leave town with the apparently firm decision to spend a month or six
weeks on the *q.t.* (which *q. t.* seems to be the fashionable slang for
"on the quiet"). [Azamat Batuk, "Ins and Outs of the English Season," The
Examiner (London), 3 August 1872, p. 765. Via Proquest British Periodicals.
Here, asterisks indicate italicized text.)

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Mr George Leybourne in song assured his hearers that he is on the "extreme
Q.T.;" and the programme was completed by Miss Annie Adams, ... ["The
London Music Halls," The Era (London), 7 February 1875, p. 4;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-era-on-the-extreme-qt-271875/155747234/
.]

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Your predecessor, sir, Mr. Newsome, let us smoke on what concert hall
"cads" term the extreme "Q-t." (or quiet) on the promenade. [In "Green Room
Gossip," The Birmingham (England) Daily Mail, 10 April 1875, p. 4;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-evening-mail-on-the-extre/155745194/
.]

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