1876. S. Dowell, Taxes in England, 1. 200. The increase in drinking . . . carried your English in potency of potting above even your Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied Hollander.
1899. Whiteing, John St., xiv. I have contracted fatal habits . . . one . . . is that I want a nip in a pot-house before retiring to rest. Ibid., xxiv. You could never git through it if you paid a quid for every pot o' beer.
2. (sporting).—A large sum; the collective amount of money staked; the pool. Hence (racing) = a horse backed for a large amount, a favourite; to pot, or to put on the pot = to wager large sums (Bee, 1823); and to upset the pot = to beat the favourite.
1840. Sporting Review, iv. 119. It needed only to lay against all, to insure a prize proportioned to the pot put on.
1859. Lever, Davenport Dunn [Tauchnitz], i. 191. The horse you have backed with a heavy pot.
1864. Derby-day, 2. The knowing ones . . . potted their money on him without hesitation. Ibid., 170. The trainer of course found the ready money to buy a share in the 'Horse and Jockey,' but that's not to be wondered at considering the pot he made when Ascapart won the Derby.
1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, v. All them fiddlers have lost such a sight of money by you; them bookmakers have had such a lot of pots upset by you.
1870. L. Oliphant, Piccadilly, v. 196. "Harrie . . . went down to the Derby on Helter's drag, and won a pot on the French horse under his judicious advice."
1883. Graphic, 17 Nov., 494. 2. Medicus, the great Cambridgeshire pot, and Thebais, who showed well in that race, were among the runners.
1887. Henley, Villon's Straight Tip, 1. Suppose . . . you land your pot . . . Booze and the blowens cop the lot.
1891. Sportsman, 28 Feb. Homeward Bound, the medium of a plunge here last week, was the potted article for the United Service Selling Hunters' Steeple-*chase.
1894. Moore. Esther Waters, vi. My great-grandfather had a pot of money, but it all went.
3. (sporting).—A prize. [Usually given in cups, mugs, or pots.] Whence pot-hunter (or -fisher) = (1) a professional athlete of the baser sort—one who, of good quality, enters for events he is sure to win for the sake of the pots offered as prizes; and (2) = a man who seeks a large bag (q.v.) without regard to the rules and usages of sport. Also pot-hunting = going in for sport for profit alone.—Grose (1785).
1879. Scribner's Mag., Aug., 506. With no other let or hindrance than those which the gory pot-hunters compel.
1882. W. W. Greener, The Gun, 570. Poachers and pot-hunters are encouraged that they may keep the tables of their friends in office well-supplied with game. Ibid., 575. The Chinese have an original and effective manner of pot-hunting after Wild-fowl.
1884. Daily News, 9 Feb., 5, 3. Common birds are better off in England than abroad where they are shot by way of sport, and potted by pot-hunters.
1885. Field, 12 Dec. Some protection should be taken against pot-hunting.
1889. Sir H. Pottinger, Trout-Fishing. But ordinary mortals have a natural dislike to returning with empty baskets, and some people not necessarily pot-hunters like to eat trout.
1891. National Observer, 14 Feb., 332. But does Mr. Everard seriously pretend . . . he was contemplating the rivalry of the two in a gigantic pot-hunting 'competeetion'?
4. (common).—A person of importance; an adept: also big pot.
1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 70. The genuine pot.
