What is a "severe course of sprouts"? If I search for it in books.google.com, I find a number of uses in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I can guess that it is a humorous expression indicating that you will not be happy, but it does not sound like a severe punishment is being threatened here. But I can't find a definition of it.Timely Warning.
The last Legislature passed a very stringent law on the subject of concealed weapons. The police have been enforcing this law vigorously, and they will not relax in their efforts to-day. Let all those who are in the habit of making walking arsenals of themselves therefore beware. If discovered, they will be put through a severe course of sprouts.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
"Severe Course of Sprouts"
From an 1863 California newspaper:
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sprout n.¹ [mid-late 19thC] (US) a beating; thus put through a course of sprouts, to beat, to flog, to subject to intense, harsh, discipline
ReplyDeleteMerriam-Webster online has it.
ReplyDeleteThese days it sounds like some sort of vegan toxin-purging therapy...
-j
OED says "to beat, birch, or flog; to subject to a course of severe discipline or training"
ReplyDeleteNor can I. I do recall that R.A. Heinlein was fond of it as an expression in his fiction, relating to difficult academic studies.
ReplyDeleteMW says:
ReplyDeletecourse of sprouts
Definition of COURSE OF SPROUTS
: a course of instruction marked by corporal punishment, hazing, rigorous discipline, or grueling tests or by thoroughness or difficulty
Origin of COURSE OF SPROUTS
prob. so called fr. the use of sprouts as switches in flogging
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/course%20of%20sprouts
Verification word: relic