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Haymaker

Posted by ESC on August 23, 2000

In Reply to: Seeking word origin posted by Ken Waller on August 22, 2000

: I am trying to find the origin of the word "haymaker" I teach martial arts and one of my students asked me why a certain punch was called a haymaker. Anyone's help is much appreciated.

From Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1982): "haymaker, for a knockout punch, appeared in 1912, perhaps from the 1880 'hit the hay,' go to sleep."

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