[f. BOW v.2 + -ING1.]

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  1.  a. The playing of (a violin, etc.) with a bow; the method or style of handling the bow. b. ‘The particular manner in which a phrase or passage is to be executed, and the signs by which such a manner is usually marked.’ Grove. (Cf. fingering.)

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1838.  W. Gardiner, Music Nat., 121. Modern writers accurately mark the bowing of every passage.

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1865.  trans. Spohr’s Autobiog., I. 14. My bowing particularly displeased him.

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1881.  Broadhouse, Mus. Acoust., 160. Stringed instruments are made to sound either by striking, plucking, or bowing.

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  2.  Hat-making. The process of distributing the fibers for felting by means of the ‘bow.’

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1842.  Whittock, Bk. Trades, 293. (Hatter), Each article undergoes a process … termed ‘bowing.’

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