Now this is what I call a stone wall.
Merriam-Webster’s website has a feature I just discovered, called Time Traveler.
They promote it as a way to see all the words used for the first time in a given year. So for example, in 1880. I stumbled across this because I wondered when the verb stonewall first came into use.
Before you dissolve into puddles of delight, there are some issues to consider. A word may be widely used in a community before it ever finds its way into print, so this kind of dating is restricted in its usefulness. Example: On the 1880 page you’ll find the word handwoven. I can guarantee that this was not a new usage in 1880. How they should come to this conclusion is hard to imagine.
The bigger problem: there’s no detailed information on the etymology. In fact the Etymology Dictionary disagrees with Merriam-Webster on the verb stonewall:
Still, a great place to procrastinate. Had me going for far longer than I intended.
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