There's a argument frame for some English verbs:
(Sbj, Obj, PP_of)
Some examples:
- Thomas rid the town of beggars.
- Thomas cured the boy of lupus.
- Thomas cleared the field of trees.
of has ablative use, and the template is normally restricted in meaning to a case where an undesirable thing is taken away. When an idiom gets grammaticalized, it's always best to use an available argument frame so people can pick up on the meaning easily.
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The hanging speech of Lady Jane Grey, given April 12, 1554 is an early attestation in print:
GOOD Christen people, I am under a lawe, and by a lawe I am condempned to dye;
not for ani thing I have offended the Quene's Majesti, for I wil wash my hands giltles therof, but only for that I consented to the thing whiche I was inforced unto. Notwithstanding, I have offended Almyghtie God, for that I have folowed over much the lust of mi flesh, and the pleasure of this wretched world, and I have not lived according to the knowledge that God hath geven me; wherfore God hath plaged me nowe wyth thyskinde of death, and that worthelye, accordyng to my desertes. Howebeit, I thancke him hartelie, that he hath geven me time to repent my syns here in this world, Wherfor, good Christian people, I shal desyre you al to pray with me, and for me, while I am now alive;
that God of his goodnes will forgeve me my sinnes. And I pray you al to beare me
witnesse, that I here dye a true Christian woman, and that I truste to be saved by the bloud of Jesus Christ, and bi none other meanes ; and now I pray you al, pray for me, and with me!" and so saied the Psalm of Miserere mei : that don, she saied, " Lorde save my soule, whyche now I commend into thy handes :" and so prepared her selfe meekelie to the blocke.
Although morning sickness refers almost exclusively to a symptom of pregnancy, it hasn't always been that way. It seemed like a descriptive phrase that combined the physical distress with the timing of the symptom.
In 1846, The Common School Journal, Volume 8 mentioned morning sickness from the excessive use of tobacco:
He complained of insufferable faintness and distress of stomach,
morning sickness, vomiting, trembling, and prostration of strength. He
diminished his tobacco considerably, and was immediately 'better, but
had not resolution to abandon the pernicious practice.
Page 260
In 1848, Symptomen-codex referred to menstrual morning sickness:
Morning-sickness during the menses, with weakness and trembling in the
day-tima. Pain in the epigastrinm during the menses, as if every thing
would be torn to pieces.
Page 752
In 1857, Homœopathic Domestic Medicine, mentions morning sickness of drunkards:
Morning Sickness of Drunkards.
ACIDUM SULPHURICUM——This medicine is of great service against the
morning sickness of those who have been inveterately addicted to
excess in the use of ardent liquors, or to what may be termed as
habitual drunkenness.
Page 515
By 1861, the morning sickness of pregnancy was identified by physicians as a unique condition in need of unique treatment. After the 1868 publication of On Chronic Alcoholic Intoxication, which listed morning sickness as a symptom of chronic alcohol intoxication, the only written reference to morning sickness was in the context of pregnancy.
Currently, WebMD, defines morning sickness:
Morning sickness refers to nausea and vomiting that commonly occur
during pregnancy. The term "morning sickness" can be misleading,
however, since pregnant women may have these symptoms at any time of
the day.
Morning sickness is also a symptom of pseudocyesis:
False pregnancy, clinically termed pseudocyesis, is the belief that
you are expecting a baby when you are not really carrying a child.
People with pseudocyesis have many, if not all, symptoms of pregnancy
-- with the exception of an actual fetus.
Of medical conditions listed on WebMD, only pregnancy and false pregnancy currently contain the phrase morning sickness as a symptom. In diagnoses other than pregnancy, the symptoms of the condition are generally identified more precisely as nausea, vomiting, abdominal (belly) cramps, diarrhea, bloating, fever, etc.
Wikipedia confers with the medical opinion:
Morning sickness, also called nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP),
nausea gravidarum, emesis gravidarum, and pregnancy sickness, is a
pregnancy discomfort that affects more than half of all pregnant
women.
Conclusion:
Informal communication may still use morning sickness to describe the distress of nausea in the morning, following an evening of drunken excess, but the formal meaning of morning sickness is a symptom of pregnancy.
Best Answer
Present company excepted or present company excluded is something that we say which means the criticism we have just made doesn't describe "present company", where "present company" includes both the listener and the speaker.