1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.). Þe whestone haþ þre propretees þt it serueþ anoþre þinge in whettinge and wasteþ hym silfe some and some.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 524/1. Whettynge, or scharpynge, acucio.
1574. W. Bourne, Regim. Sea, vi. (1577), 28 b. I would not wish them to meddle with … whettyng of the side of the needle.
1616. T. Draxe, Bibl. Scholast., 176. Whetting (viz. of kniues and sithes) is no letting. [Cf. quot. a. 1628 s.v. WHET sb. 1.]
1633. Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit. (ed. 2), § 131. Recreation is intended to the minde, as whetting is to the sithe.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, xiv. 344. That we should sacrifice the one [sc. the Churches peace] … to the whetting and inflaming of the other [sc. curiosity].
1774. G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 2 Sept. The titmouse … early in February begins to make two quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw.
1852. M. Arnold, Empedocles, II. 164. With one arm over his head, Watching how the whetting sped.
attrib. 1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Join., v. ¶ 26. They wedge the blade of the Saw hard into the *Whetting Block.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1081. It … furnishes shoemakers with … *whetting-boards to smooth the edges of their knives upon.
1706. Farquhar, Twin Rivals, I. i. I have brought you a *Whetting-Glass, the best Old Hock in Europe; I know ’tis your drink in a Morning.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 417. A *qwettenge-ston.
