Massachusetts: Bay State (nickname)
Entry in progress—B.P.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
Bay State n. popular name in U.S. for the State of Massachusetts, originally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; hence Bay Stater.
1789 S. Davis Jrnl. 1 Sept. in Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. 1869 (1871) XI. 14 The style of building varies somewhat from that of the Bay State, as they term Massachusetts.
1801 Spirit of Farmer’s Museum 198 Down here in the Bay State and all about the country.
1837 R. M. Bird Nick of Woods I. 132 He was from the Down-East country; a representative of the Bay State.
1845 St. Louis Reveille 14 May 2/4 The inhabitants of..Massachusets [are called] Bay Staters.
Old Bay State n. U.S. = Bay State n. at bay n.2 Compounds 2.
1836 N. Amer. Rev. July 289 The ancient town, the oldest in the Old Bay State.
OCLC WorldCat record
We rejoice to see the old Bay State throwing the weight of i
Publisher: Boston, Massachusetts
Edition/Format: Article Article
Publication: THE LIBERATOR, (April 28, 1837)
Database: The Liberator
OCLC WorldCat record
Bay State Democrat. Extra : Mr. Buchanan’s speech in U.S. Senate, Tuesday, March 3, 1840 in reply to the misrepresentations of John Davis, in relation to the price of labor as connected with the passage of the Independent Treasury Bill.
Author: James Buchanan; John Davis
Publisher: [Boston, Mass.] : [publisher not identified], [1840]
Edition/Format: Print book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
The Old Bay State.
Publisher: Boston, Massachusetts
Edition/Format: Article Article
Publication: The Liberator, (February 3, 1843)
Database: The Liberator
7 April 1866, The Daily Cleveland Herald (Cleveland, OH), “Geographical Nicknames,” pg. 2, col. 2:
... Massachusetts, Old Bay State; ...