[Ads-l] antedating "knock the stuffing out of"

[Jonathan Lighter]

1887: OED

1867 _N. Y. Dispatch_  (Sept. 15) 6 [GenealogyBank]: O'Donnell called
Kearns a loafer, ...he could knock the stuffing out of him in no time.

1869 _Bath [Me.] Daily Times_ (Dec. 9) 2 [Ibid.]: Allen the prizefighter
expresses his conviction that he is able to "knock the stuffing out of
McCoole in ten minutes."

1880 _Daily Appeal_ (Carson City, Nev.) (March 27) 7 [Newspapers.com]:
He'll knock the stuffin' out of any man the Repubs put up.

JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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