vbl. sb. [f. WEB v. + -ING1.]
1. The action or process of weaving. ? Obs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 519/1. Webbynge, of wullyne clothe, lanificium.… Webbynge, of lynnyne, linificium.
1463–4. Rolls of Parlt., V. 501/2. Withoute dyversite in webbyng, fullyng, knottyng and burlyng.
1483. Vulgaria abs Terentio, 3. Wyth woll and webbynge wemen were wont to get their lyuynge.
1558. in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1897), XII. 439. Which yerely fee ferme was paid so long as webbyng in the said citie was used.
1562. Phaër, Æneid, IX. E e ij. In webbing wasting tyme to eas thereby myne aged care [tela curas solabar anilis].
1657. J. Watts, Scribe, etc. Author’s Epist. b 2. Woman, get you home, and follow your own businesses of spinning and webbing.
2. concr. A woven material.
1754. Pococke, Trav. (Camden), II. 15. Welch Webbings … a thick sort of flannel, of which the Soldiers’ clothing is chiefly made.
1883. Daily News, 10 Sept., 2/6. In elastic webbings there is no improvement in the trade for gussets [of boots].
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 84/1. Webbing made of reed and used in substitution of fir-lathing.
b. Woven material in the form of a strong wide band, used by upholsterers and others. Also attrib. in webbing belt, tape.
1794. Girth-webbing [see GIRTH-WEB].
1796. Report. Arts & Manuf., VI. 76. A chain, webbing, strap or line, is applied on the ledge on the face of the wheel.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 634. A box footstool…. The top is formed of an outside frame, on which is stretched strong webbing, for the purpose of supporting the stuffing above.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Webbing tape, a kind of broad tape.
1885. Manch. Exam., 5 May, 5/2. A broad band of Turcoman webbing of extremely fine texture.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Webbing, a term for the wider tapes of a printing machine; also applied to the girthing used for running in and out the carriage of hand-presses.
1916. Blackw. Mag., April, 548/2. A martial figure in full panoply of trench coat, rifle, bayonet, webbing belts [etc.].
3. Material for a (spider’s) web. ? nonce-use.
1883. G. Macdonald, Princess & Curdie, xxvii. A huge spider, about two feet long in the body, which, having made an excellent supper, was full of webbing.
4. = PALMATION 2. Also Path., a webbed state of the fingers or toes.
1872. Erichsen, Surg. (ed. 6), II. 298. Webbing of the Fingers is occasionally met with.
1888. Med. Press, 18 July, 59/2. In the feet … the webbing is less thick and complete than in the hands, the terminal phalanges being separate from each other.
1894. Madison Grant, in Century Mag., Jan., 353. As the palmation, or webbing [of the larger moose’s antlers], is not so wide as in the first variety, the points are longer.
