verb (pugilistic).—To strike while parrying. Also used as a verbal subs., COUNTERING. Figuratively, to oppose; to circumvent.
1853. REV. E. BRADLEY (‘Cuthbert Bede’), The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, an Oxford Freshman, pt. I., p. 106. His kissing-trap COUNTERED, his ribs roasted.
1857. O. W. HOLMES, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, ch. vii. He will certainly knock the little man’s head off, if he strikes him. Feinting, dodging, stopping, hitting, COUNTERING—little man’s head not off yet.
1871. Daily News, 17 April, p. 2, col. 2. The Jockey Club met on Wednesday last, when they COUNTERED the Hunt Committee … by refusing to father the said ‘wrangling stakes’ by a majority of eleven to three.
1873. Conservative, 15 Feb. If ‘The Druid’ is the prettier sparrer, ‘The Ædile’ must be admitted to have shown unexpected powers of COUNTERING, and has stood up gamely to his bigger opponent.
ANOTHER LIE NAILED TO THE COUNTER.—See ANOTHER.
