Appeals

Words or phrases which appear on the Appeals List are those currently being drafted or revised for the OED for which the documentary evidence is incomplete. Often these are slang or colloquial items which cannot be researched in specialist texts and are most likely to be found by a general reader in non-specialized or popular literature.

Usually the appeal is for an earlier example than our current earliest (e.g. 'antedate 1970' for a word for which our earliest example comes from 1970), but sometimes the appeal is for an interdating where there is a large gap in the OED's quotation evidence (e.g. 'interdate 1589-1910'). Occasionally we ask for a post-dating (e.g. 'post-date 1875'), if an editor feels that an item being revised is still current but has failed to find any recent examples through the usual avenues of research.

Please note: it is generally safe to assume that examples found by searching the Web, using search engines such as Google, will have already been considered by OED editors.

chat-up (a.: designating or relating to flirtatious conversation) antedate 1986
Dutch pot (n.: an earthenware or iron cooking pot) any 18th or 19th century evidence
pneumonia blouse (n.: a low-necked thin blouse) antedate 1902
point (n.: a post at which a police officer is stationed) post-date 1972
point (n.: a rough diamond adapted for glass-cutting) any evidence
point (n.: a pin used to locate a sheet when printing) post-date 1963
popple (n.: a bulge caused by a bubble in manufactured metal) interdate 1635-2001
power base (n.: a source of authority or support) antedate 1943
power-egg (n.: an ovate housing for an engine on an airship) antedate 1961
powermonger (n.: a person who wields or deals in power) interdate 1654-1879
powermongering (n.: the action of a powermonger) antedate 1965
powermongering (a.: that acts as a powermonger) antedate 1972

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