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 postdating (e.g. 'postdate 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.

dead leg (noun: numb leg, esp. as a result of a kick etc.):

antedate 1987

deadleg (verb: give someone a dead leg):

antedate 1972

mucky pup (noun: dirty child):

antedate 1984

nos(e)y (noun: act of looking, out of curiosity):

antedate 1990

omissibility (noun):

antedate 1961

outpower (verb: outdo in power):

interdate 1762-1975

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