Heading
To acknowledge the corn, phr. (American).—See Acknowledge, and the following quote:
1846. New York Herald, 27 June. The Evening Mirror very naïvely comes out and acknowledges the corn, admits that a demand was made, etc.
Corned, ppl. adj. (common).—1.
Drunk. [Hotten: 'possibly
from soaking or pickling oneself
like salt-beef.' Barrère:
'almost beyond doubt . . . an
Americanism from corn, a
very common name for whisky.'
Both are wrong; the verb 'to
corn' is a common provincialism
and Scotticism signifying 'to
be drunk.'] For synonyms, see
Screwed.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1808. Jamieson, Etymolog. Dict. Scottish Lang. The lads are weel corned.
1835. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 257 (ed. 1862). 'I was pretty well corned thet arternoon, but still I knew what I was about.'
2. (sailors').—Pleased.
Corner, subs. (colloquial).—1.—See
verbal sense.
1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 309. Mr. Bill Greyson thought it much more likely that a syndicate of bookmakers had plotted to make a good thing out of the horse by working him in the betting-market like any other corner on the Stock Exchange.
2. (sporting).—Tattersall's Subscription Rooms once situate at the top of Grosvenor Place, near Hyde Park Corner; now removed to Albert Gate, but still known by the old nickname.
1848. W. M. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. x. He is a regular attendant at the corner, where he compiles a limited but comfortable libretto.
1874. G. A. Lawrence, Hagarene, ch. v. She heard how—without anticipating the stable commission, or making any demonstration at the corner—the cream of the long odds against the Pirate had been skimmed.
3. (sporting).—Short for Tattenham Corner, a crucial point on the Derby course on Epsom Downs.
4. (thieves').—A share; an opportunity of 'standing in' for the proceeds of a robbery.
Verb (colloquial).—To get control of a stock or commodity and so monopolize the market; applied to persons, to drive or force into a position of difficulty or surrender, e.g., in an argument. [Probably American, being a simple extension of the legitimate meaning of the word to drive or force into a corner or place from which there is no means of escape.] French equivalents are être en fine pégrène, and se mettre sur les fonts de baptême. Tailors speak of a man as cornered who has pawned work entrusted to him, and cannot redeem it. Also used as a ppl. adj.
1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 24. Such [books] as Crusoe might dip in, altho' there are few so Outrageously cornered by fate as poor Crusoe.
1851. Hawthorne, House of Seven Gables, ch. v. A recluse, like Hepzibah, usually displays remarkable frankness, and at least temporary affability, on being absolutely cornered, and brought to the point of personal intercourse.
1883. Graphic, April 21, p. 406, col. 2. Chief member of a ring which has cornered colza oil this winter to such an extent that the price has been very considerably enhanced during the last few months.
To be round the corner,
verbal phr. (common).—To get
round or ahead of one's fellows
