Gerrymandering, subs. (political American). See Gerrymander.
1872. New York Sunday Mercury, 31 March. The Legislature of Ohio intends to prove itself a veritable master in the gerrymandering business.
1890. Athenæum, 22 Feb. p. 23 8, c. 1. Whatever faults can be found with Sir John's administration, it has been good and successful enough to afford excuse for all the gerrymandering with which he is charged by his critics.
1891. Belfort's Mag., Aug., p. 439. The Democrats of Michigan have carried the art of gerrymandering to such an extent that they have thoroughly disgusted their opponents.
Gerund-Grinder, subs. (common).—A schoolmaster, especially a pedant. Also Gerund-Grinding.
1759-67. Sterne Tristam Shandy, iv., 112. Tutors, governors, gerund-grinders, and bear-leaders.
1788. Knox, Winter Evenings, 59. A pedant, a mere plodder, a petty tyrant, a gerund-grinder.
1825-7. Hone, Every Day Book, II., p. 33. Gerund-Grinding and parsing are usually prepared for at the last moment.
Get, subs. (old).—1. A cheating contrivance; a Have (q.v.).
2. (old).—A child; the result, that is, of an act of procreation or begetting. Thus, one of his gets = one of his making; whose get is that? = Who's the father? It's his get, anyhow = At all events he got it.
1570. Scottish Text Society, Satirical Poems, I., 171, 'Treason of Dumbarton' (1891). Ganelon's gets, relicts of Sinon's seed.
d 1798. Burns, Merry Muses. 'For a' that.' O' bastard getts some had a score, An' some had mair than a' that.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 41. This, again, is unusual for a Chester, as his get are generally quiet and docile, but a bit lazy.
Get! (or You Get!) intj. (American).—Short for Get out! Usually, Git! (q.v.).
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 176. None of your damned impertinence. Get!
To get at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To quiz; to banter; to aggravate; to take a rise out of. Also To get back at.
1891. Sloper's Half Holiday, 3 Jan. 'Your family don't seem to get on, missie.' 'On!' replied the child, with dignity flashing from her great blue eyes; 'on! I've got a father on the booze, a sister on the music 'all, an' a brother on the treadmill. On! who're ye gettin' at?'
2. (racing and colloquial).—To influence; to bribe; to nobble (of horses), and to corrupt (of persons); applied to horse, owner, trainer, jockey, and vet. alike.
1870. Spectator, 23 April. That, of course, makes it profitable for owners to withdraw horses they have secretly betted against, and for scoundrels to get at horses.
1871. Saturday Review, 9 Sept. It is quite clear that some of the foreign working men have been got at.
1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 262, c. 2. The House of Commons . . . can also be trusted to decide in local questions without any suspicion of being got at, as is sometimes the case elsewhere.
1883. Badminton Library, Steeplechasing, p. 404. Suspicions that the mare had been got at, that is to say, drugged, were afterwards noised abroad.
1888. Daily Telegraph, 17 Nov. It was strongly suspected that he had been got at.
1890. Globe, 11 Aug., p. 1, c. 1. Fancy the professional agitator trying to get at such men as these—men who gloried in being soldiers and nothing else!
1892. Pall Mall Gazette, May 10, p. 3, c. 3. The scoundrels (verily of the lowest form) who have tried to get at Orme.
1892 National Observer, vii. 630. If the horse were got at, then a bookie who stood heavily to lose is probably assumed.
