[f. as prec. + -ING1.] The action of the vb. CONSUME; burning up, using up; wasting, spending; destroying.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iii. 96. The consumyng of gold upon postys and wallys.
1544. Supplic. Hen. VIII. (1871), 52. There is noo ende of consumynge of substaunce.
1618. Bolton, Florus, II. xvi. 140. The remayne of these consummings.
a. 1631. Donne, in Select. (1840), 96. A consuming of the enemy, not a weakening only.
1864. Swinburne, Atalanta, 1951. My name that was a healing, it is changed. My name is a consuming.
