# Origin of term "to vet" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501 "2013-01-27T01:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/1 "2013-01-27T01:24:48Z")
…as in to check it out, verify, investigate, confirm authenticity, etc. Where did this word come from?I only started hearing it a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/2 "2013-01-27T01:26:32Z")
[This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetting) will get you started. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/3 "2013-01-27T01:34:44Z")
I too thought this to be a fairly recent term. > [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > [This](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetting) will get you started. Thank you. I particularly recommend footnote #4 there. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/4 "2013-01-27T01:44:11Z")
From the OED entry: vet, v. 1. To examine carefully and critically for deficiencies or errors; spec. to investigate the suitability of (a person) for a post that requires loyalty and trustworthiness. 1904 R. Kipling Traffics & Discov. 270 These are our crowd… They’ve been vetted, an’ we’re putting 'em through their paces. 1924 H. A. Vachell Quinney’s Adventures 267 Shelagh ‘vetted’ Dolan’s brogue, and passed it as sound enough for an Irish-American. 1925 E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 iii. vi. 338 He should have all equipment…completely ready three or four months before shipment—only thus can everything be properly ‘vetted’ and criticized. 1938 G. Arthur Not Worth Reading viii. 110 The official in Pall Mall…who ‘vetted’ us…swallowed without a gulp some rather mendacious replies as to one’s technical knowledge of the various parts of a Canadian boat. 1947 E. Waugh Let. 29 May (1980) 251 The romantic castle was condemned by the architect I sent to vet it, as moribund. 1959 Duke of Bedford Silver-plated Spoon vi. 128 We went through an awful period while Brownie was ‘vetted’ at a series of interviews with relations, each more embarrassing than the last. 1978 G. Greene Human Factor ii. i. 63 HQ had her vetted. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/5 "2013-01-27T03:01:48Z")
Thanks for the triage on vet. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/6 "2013-01-27T15:40:58Z")
This is what I was wondering-- the _origin_. Thank you so much! 🙂 > [@](#): > > From wikipedia: > > To vet was originally a horse-racing term, referring to the requirement that a horse be checked for health and soundness by a veterinarian before being allowed to race. Thus, it has taken the general meaning “to check”. > > It is a figurative contraction of veterinarian, which originated in the mid-17th century. The colloquial abbreviation dates to the 1860s; the verb form of the word, meaning “to treat an animal”, came a few decades later—according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known usage is 1891—and was applied primarily in a horse-racing context (“He vetted the stallion before the race”, “You should vet that horse before he races”, etc.). > > By the early 1900s, vet had begun to be used as a synonym for evaluate, especially in the context of searching for flaws. It sounded like it had to be a shortened form of another word and the only word I could think of was “veterinarian,” but I couldn’t make that fit with the current ubiquitous usage. The term may have been around for a long time, but it’s only become \*common \*in referring to appointments to office and such in the last few (maybe 10-ish?) years. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/7 "2013-01-27T16:27:58Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The term may have been around for a long time, but it’s only become \*common \*in referring to appointments to office and such in the last few (maybe 10-ish?) years. My recollection is that it’s been used for at least a couple of decades commonly. I’m not sure if it’s the best of search terms, but on google ngram viewer I looked up “vetted” and [got this result](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vetted&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=). Looks like it became popular around the mid-80s, and has increased in popularity since. Now, I don’t know for certain that all those instances of “vetted” are being used as in the OP’s case, but I’m not really familiar with it being used much in any other manner as a verb. ETA: Whoops, sorry. Didn’t realize the graph ended at 2000. [Here’s a better one.](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vetted&year_start=1800&year_end=2012&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=) It does seem that the word became much more popular in the last decade. Still, looking through Google news from 1985-1995 shows many examples of vetted being used in this manner. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/8 "2013-01-27T16:36:38Z")
I think 1992 is the magic year for the term’s breakthrough in US politics, in reference to Bill Clinton’s cabinet and other high post nominees. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/9 "2013-01-27T16:39:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The term may have been around for a long time, but it’s only become \*common \*in referring to appointments to office and such in the last few (maybe 10-ish?) years. Only uncommon in the US. Not uncommon in Britain for over 75 years., ---
**Author:** ![Bones\_Daley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/10 "2013-01-27T18:34:27Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Only uncommon in the US. Not uncommon in Britain for over 75 years., Also worth noting that in the UK, unlike the US, the term “vet” is\*\* never \*\*an abbreviation for “veteran”. If somebody is referred to as a “vet” it means he/she is a veterinary surgeon (and they aren’t called “veterinarians” either over here.) ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/11 "2013-01-27T21:01:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My recollection is that it’s been used for at least a couple of decades commonly. I’m not sure if it’s the best of search terms, but on google ngram viewer I looked up “vetted” and [got this result](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vetted&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=). Looks like it became popular around the mid-80s, and has increased in popularity since. You can also select just an [American](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vetted&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=) or [British](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=vetted&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=) corpus to use as your base. When you do that, the trajectories are about the same since 1960. The over all usage is harder to judge without more information but it would appear just on what ngram presents that UK usage is about twice as frequent. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/12 "2013-01-27T22:29:27Z")
> [@Bones\_Daley](#): > > Also worth noting that in the UK, unlike the US, the term “vet” is\*\* never \*\*an abbreviation for “veteran”. If somebody is referred to as a “vet” it means he/she is a veterinary surgeon That is what always confused me about the A-Team; it was supposed to be about vets, but they were nothing like James Herriot… ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term-to-vet/648501/13 "2013-01-28T00:16:09Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > That is what always confused me about the A-Team; it was supposed to be about vets, but they were nothing like James Herriot… There was that one episode where Siegfried and Tristan were trapped in a barn and made a rocket launcher out of an old milking machine and some sulphur powders. Or am I thinking of _Last Of The Summer Wine_…