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> > 1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to f

> > 1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies. > A better phrasing that correctly uses "now" would be: The OED now recognizes that "literally" can be used to mean "figuratively". I wouldn’t be so sure about that. “Lilies” may figuratively refer to “women” as a group of persons named “Lily”. If so, attending a party filled with “lilies” would mean to literally (literally) feed among them, presuming snacks and refreshments were served at said party.

nl 4y ago
Good try. Fortunately we can check the text[1] and there are no characters named "Lily". However, there is a prior reference to lilies as a thing of beauty: > Our beaux are terribly at a loss for similies: you have lilies of the valley for comparisons; we nothing but what with the idea of whiteness gives that of coldness too. and it seems likely the author was referring to that theme. Additionally this isn't the only quote from a similar timeframe: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002611.html http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002611.h... https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/blog/article/94/ https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/blog/article/94/ [1] https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/brooke/emily/emily.html https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/brooke/emily/emily.h...