The word is found without the initial o, 1613, 1670, 1698. (N.E.D.)
1705. Here I can’t omit a strange Rarity in the female Possum, which I my self have seen. They have a false Belly, or loose Skin quite over the Belly; this never sticks to the Flesh of the Belly, but may be look’d into at all Times, after they have been concern’d in Procreation.—R. Beverley, ‘Virginia,’ ii. 38.
1858. The ‘possum’ is in size like unto a ‘woodchuck,’ gray in color, feet like a squirrel, and color like unto a gray squirrel, but a tail long and like a rat’s.—Knick. Mag., li. 537 (May).
1909. Harry S. Fisher of Newman, Ga., known as the ’possum king, says: Give us a ’possum-loving President, and the White House will ring with peace and prosperity and joy for years to come.—N.Y. Evening Post, Jan. 4.
