[Ads-l] ramsquaddle

[Jonathan Lighter]

'To beat soundly;; (hence) to muddle."

All from N. Not in OED;   DARE  (Sept. 1830 in Vermont, clearly inspired by
1830 Georgia).  Latter sense not previously defined:

1830 Georgia Messenger (Macon, Ga.) (May 15) 2: Cracker
Dictionary...Ramsquaddled. Rowed up Salt River.

1834 National Banner (Nashville, Tenn.) (Jan. 31) 3: No danger...of
being...ramsquaddled or exflunctified.

1834 Boston Post (Nov. 17) 2: They are...decidedly ramsquaddled, whittled
down to the little end of nothing.

1850 Missouri Whig (Palmyra. Mo.) (Feb. 15) 2: The editor ought to be
ransquaddled and doubled-and-twisted into the middle of next week.

1944 Spokane Daily Chronicle (Aug. 10) 8: Clare Booth Luce...refer[red] to
New Deal officials as "ramsquaddled bureaucrats." ....Mrs. Luce
explained...that "ramsquaddled" ...was...used by Missourians in particular,
and meant "confused, muddled, or mixed up."
 .
JL

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

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