An expression originally nautical: used by Lord Anson, 1748. (N.E.D.)
1825. I was working, all the time, to get ahead of Edith.—John Neal, ‘Brother Jonathan,’ i. 385. (N.E.D.)
1860. ‘Is that in Joe Miller?’ ‘I think not, Sir. I flatter myself that it is a little ahead of Joe.’—Knick. Mag., lv. 92 (June).
1864. All European countries are ahead of us in this matter, principally, perhaps, for the reason that in those countries the acquisition and pursuit of trades are more particularly a matter of legal regulation.—J. G. Holland, ‘Letters to the Joneses,’ p. 68.
