[Ads-l] antedating of kibosh, put the kibosh on - 1834

[Peter Reitan]

As I understand it, the OED has "put the kibosh on" from Dickens, Seven Dials, in a collection published in 1836.

Dave Wilton posted here August 7, 2024, an antedating of the same Dickens usage, in Scenes and Characters. - No. 1. Seven Dials, published in Bells Life in London and Sporting Chronicle, 27 September 1835, 1/1.  Dave Wilton reported that in this publication, it is spelled "kye-bosh," not the "kye-bosk" that appears in later editions.

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2024-August/165781.html

Newspapers.com has several earlier uses spelled in the more familiar "kibosh," the earliest from November 27, 1834, which appears in near-identical reprints, with some differences, in several newspapers over the following days and weeks.  A second example appears on January 23, 1835, and a third in May 1835.  The two early examples refer negatively to Whig politics.  In the November 1834 example, the person using the word is an uneducated chimney sweep, whose words are reproduced in some dialect, Cockney?  The January 1835 example mentions someone named Bill Ingilby as the person from whom they heard the expression.  The May 1835 example appears in a police report of violence among members of a synagogue.  The testimony of the complainant is written in dialect, German-Yiddish accent?

It's not clear whether these examples shed any additional light on its etymology or history of use, although the May 1835 example refers to being given a beating by a crowd giving the kibosh upon someone.

The Standard, London, November 27, 1834, page 4.

[Begin Excerpt]Ah, said Smith, as he went out of the office, it vos the "Vigs" vot passed this bill, and vot the Duke of Vellington put the kibosh on 'em for, and sarve 'em right.  It warnt nothin else than this here hact vot "floored" them.
[End Excerpt]

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard/175858068/

The act referred to was a recently enacted Chimney-Sweep Act, which made it illegal for chimney sweeps to hawk their services on the streets.  The supposed reason for the act was to prevent the abuse of child labor as chimney sweeps.  It was criticized for singling out chimney sweeps, effectively preventing their advertising their services, at least for small-time, independent operators.

This example was reprinted in several other newspapers in other locations.  It originally appeared in a local police report, but apparently the folksy criticism of whig politics drew the attention of the other outlets.

Leicester Journal, and Midland Counties General Advertiser, Leicester, January 23, 1835, page 4.

[Begin Excerpt]The late First Lord of the Admiralty puts what Bill Ingilby calls the "kibosh" upon the Whig lies respecting the perfect union and harmony of Earl Grey's Ministry.
[End Excerpt]

https://www.newspapers.com/article/leicester-journal-and-midland-counties/175857890/

The First Lord Admiralty at the time was Lord Auckland, who had been in office since at least July 1834, and remained in office until replaced in about September 1835, when he was appointed Governor General of India.

The Morning Chronicle, London, May 15, 1835, page 4.

[Begin Excerpt]Myers: Please you, my Lord, I an't no such a thing [as a naturalized Jew], and I never vas naturalized.  They says so to rise the kibosh against me, and my vive, vot I vas a valking mid, vhen they comes down upon us. Ve goes reglar to the synagogue, and the gentlemen knows it. . . .
Myers: I dont think I can swear [that they struck me]; but they gets other Jews to give me the kibosh upon me, and it's all the same to me which of the whole set struck me.
[End Excerpt]

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-chronicle/175873689/









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