mutual aidn.
/ˌmjuːtʃʊəl ˈeɪd/, /ˌmjuːtʃ(ᵿ)l ˈeɪd/, /ˌmjuːtjʊəl ˈeɪd/, /ˌmjuːtjᵿl ˈeɪd/, U.S. /ˌmjutʃ(əw)əl ˈeɪd/ Support or assistance provided reciprocally, esp. (in later use) under a government programme or international agreement. Now also: support or aid provided collectively, esp. by self-organized volunteer networks within communities.In early use not a fixed collocation.In later use frequently (with capital initials) in the name of particular agreements, programmes, organizations, etc., involving or established for reciprocal or collective provision of aid.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > types of help > [noun] > mutual assistance
mutual aid1537
giff-gaff1549
giff-gaffing1606
log-rolling1823
back-scratching1924
1537 Inst. Christen Man ii. sig. H.1 Howe necessary it was to couple & conioyne man & woman togyther in mariage,..for theyr mutual ayde and comforte.
1692 T. Fletcher Poems Several Occasions xxii. 134 By chance together they had pitch'd their Folds, Protected safer thus by mutual Aid.
1774 J. Beattie Minstrel: 2nd Bk. xlii. 22 Sees yonder sun..A lovelier scene, than..man with man for mutual aid combined?
1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man vii. 303 [Organisms] which give mutual aid survive and people the world with their kind.
1943 New Statesman 20 Nov. 326 Lease lend, now officially named ‘Mutual Aid’, is giving rise to a great deal of discussion in the United States.
2009 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 2 Apr. 7 Mutual aid between police forces is common when one force area is playing host to a large event or protest.
2020 Guardian (Nexis) 17 May There is a power to mutual aid, as community responses to the lockdown have shown.
Compounds
As a modifier, with the sense ‘of, involving, or established for reciprocal or (now also) collective provision of aid’, as mutual aid agreement, mutual aid programme, mutual aid society, etc.
ΚΠ
1807 Jrnl. Senate N.Y. (30th Sess.) 363 An act to incorporate the mutual aid society of the city of New-York.
1929 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 35 393 Changes in occupational level, geographic dispersion of the colony,..etc., are undermining the traditional control of the elders, the effectiveness of the family, of mutual aid mechanisms, and the influence of Molokanism as a system of belief.
1955 Ann. Reg. 1954 149 Canada had previously made 400 Sabres available to the R.A.F. as part of the mutual aid programme.
1962 Aeroplane 12 Apr. 16/1 Since 1958 the same eight airlines..have had a mutual aid agreement whereby a ‘struck’ company receives from the others any excess revenues attributable to the strike, less additional expenses.
2020 Medway Messenger (Nexis) 28 May Organised by volunteers from the Maidstone Coronavirus Mutual Aid Group, the gifts known as isolation boxes, were delivered to families in Downswood and Otham who were nominated by friends.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1537