This very ugly compound, almost as objectionable in its way as the “split infinitive,” is found in the Paston Letters, and in Keats, but has never obtained a lodgment in good English.
a. 1465. [A man hath] put exceptions onto [certain persons].—‘Paston Letters,’ ii. 145 (Kington Oliphant).
1819.
| Please you walk forth | |
| Onto the Terrace; the refreshing air | |
| Will blow one half of your sad doubts away. | |
Keats’s ‘Otho’ v. 4, Ed. 1901. Ed. 1876 has “Upon the terrace.” (N.E.D.). |
1841. When Mr. Chipp comes onto the stage, you must greet him with the most enthusiastic applause, and no mistake.—Knick. Mag., xvii. 460 (June).
1849. A tree fell onto him, you see, and I should n’t wonder if he ’s stiff by the time I got back.—Id., xxxiv. 208 (Sept.).
1850. Seeing his hesitancy, two ‘anxious friends’ behind the scenes pushed the Colonel onto the stage.—Id., xxxvi. 385 (Oct.).
1853. I asked the author to explain what he meant by ‘partly raised,’ but he threw the onus ‘onto’ the printer by saying it was error of his: it should have been, ‘partly born.’—Id., xlii. 217 (Aug.).
1854. Is her fever brok’t onto her?—H. H. Riley, ‘Puddleford,’ p. 128 (N.Y.).
1854. The improvement consists in casting a boss of soft metal onto the tube.—Patent Office Report, i. 480 (Bartlett).
1855. Most of his shirt stuck onto the splintered ends of a broken rail.—Oregon Weekly Times, May 12.
1857. See PAINTER.
1857. Not long ago a man got lost onto the plains. He followed the only track there was. Four times he came round to the judge’s stand, and then, says he, ‘I give it up. We ’re onto a race-course.’—Knick. Mag., xlix. 521 (May).
1858. He said he and his crowd prayed nigh onto four hours.—Harper’s Weekly, Sept. 11.
1860. Some small boys made … faceshus remarks onto his bald head.—Oregon Argus: June 23: from Hartford Times.
1888. A plank was brought for me to lay my soap onto, and I cut it in chunks, but it was not to be found.—H. H. Bancroft, ‘California Inter Pocula,’ p. 75.
1888. I sought to forget my terror in sleep, and crept onto one of the little shelves allotted to us.—Mrs. Custer, ‘Tenting on the Plains,’ p. 275.
1890. A detail from the company went down to the dining-tent, and lifted the table, just as it stood, with all the dishes onto the higher ground.—The same, ‘Following the Guidon,’ p. 297 (N.Y.).
