[Janice D. Soderling]

I have some further thoughts on this after a cup of strong java.

It’s all well and good to point to earlier usages, but that essentially tells us nothing. The question is: “What happens to our perception of a noun, when it is made into a verb.

I think it subverts the original meaning in a sly way and implants a special force (at least until we grow used to it and it becomes commonplace as in “He dogged her every footstep”, which is much more ho-hum to the modern ear than “'Those hearts that spanielled me at heels...' ") One might speculate that it was inventive also in Bill Shakey’s day, because “dogged”, I’m sure, has been with us longer. Moreover, “spanielled” is more specific than “dogged” and this also gives it a special thrust.

It may be an after-construction in my mind, but I don’t think I would have reacted if I had seen “gifted” used in either of these two ways.

Though she was only fifteen when he gifted her with pearls and diamonds, she was no fool.

or

She gifted him with two thoroughbreds and soon after common gossip had him as her new fancy man.

In each of the above the word becomes a little malicious, though the usage echoes an everyday construction “he/she showered gifts on her/him.”. “Showered” itself is a noun made verb, but one that has grown mundane and thus has no or little effect.

My made-up examples above ring differently (to my ear) than, After a long and arduous journey, the Magi found the infant and gifted him with gold, frankincense and myrrh which deflects the idea of no-strings-attached veneration.

It’s a lovely thread though, with all its sidesteps and meanderings of bright minds.