Feeding vbl. sb.

[f. as prec. + -ING¹.]

  1.  The action of the vb. FEED, in its various senses.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., v. 42. Sio feding ðara sceapa.

c. 1320.  R. Brunne, Medit., 39. Þe fyrst ys a bodly fedyng.

14[?].  The Ephyphanye, in Tundale’s Vis., 120.

c. 1475.  Babees Bk. (1868), 7. In youre fedynge luke goodly yee be sene.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 137. Pamperyng … our bodyes by … moche fedyng of delycate meates and drynkes.

1676.  Ray, Corr. (1848), 122. This author, I believe, hath good skill in the feeding and ordering of singing-birds.

1725.  Sloane, Jamaica, II. 285. According to its [a barracuda’s] feeding on venemous or not venemous Food, ’tis wholesome or poysonous to those who eat it.

1803.  Davy, in Phil. Trans., XCIII. 272. The feeding of leather in the slow method of tanning.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., viii. There was not a gleam of … anything but feeding in his whole visage.

1879.  Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, i. 15. I began to dread ways of consoling which were really a flattering of native illusions, a feeding-up into monstrosity of an inward growth already disproportionate.

  2.  concr. That which is eaten; food. Now rare.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. i. (1495), 736. Some beestys gadre store of mete and fedynge.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 152/2. Fedynge, or fode, pastum.

1532–3.  Act 24 Hen. VIII., c. 3. Beoffe, mutton, porke, and veale … is the common feedyng of … poore persons.

1581.  Mulcaster, Positions, xxxvii. (1887), 148. Will ye let the fry encrease, where the feeding failes?

1653.  Walton, Angler, 148. His [the Pike’s] feeding is usually fish or frogs.

1866.  Handy Horse Bk., 20. So should the horses feeding be augmented by one-third … more than usual.

  † b.  To take feeding (of): to feed (upon). In quot. fig.

c. 1500.  Melusine, 298. Her of whom myn eyen toke theire fedyng.

  † c.  Nourishment, sustenance. Obs.

1547.  Boorde, Brev. Health, Pref. 4. Consider if … the sickenes in the exterial partes have any fedynge from the interial partes.

  3.  Grazing-ground or pasture land; pasturage, feeding-ground. Obs. exc. dial.

c. 1430.  Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. cix. (1869), 116. He … ouerthroweth here feedinges [pasturaux].

1467.  Bury Wills (1850), 47. Alle the landys, medewes, pasturys, and fedyngys callyd Southwode.

1554–5.  Act 2–3 Phil. & Mary, c. 3. Lands or feedings, apt for milch kine.

1627.  Speed, England, iii. § 4. Kent … in some things hath the best esteeme: as in … feedings for Cattell.

1669.  J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 31. The Spring and Autumn feeding, whereon six or eight Cattle usually grazed.

1768.  Boswell, Corsica, i. (ed. 2), 40. Sheep … have fine feeding.

1840.  Spurdens, Suppl. Voc. E. Anglia, s.v. ‘You turned your horse into my feeding.’

  4.  attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as feeding-barley, -cake, -cock, -ground, -house, -land, -linseed, -machine, -metal, -pipe, -place, -stuff, -vessel, -work.

1884.  York Herald, 19 Aug., 7/2. *Feeding foreign barley.

1883.  Encycl. Brit., XV. 511/1, ‘Manure.’ *Feeding cakes, pulse, and other highly nitrogenous feeding stuffs.

1827.  Farey, Steam Engine, 369. Regulate the *feeding cocks … so as to give the requisite supply.

1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, xiv. There is not a tree on it, and it is all good *feeding ground.

1807.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1831), 87. He is judiciously distributing his *feeding-houses, sheep and bullock-yards, over all the highest parts of his farms, that in future the dung may be conveniently distributed over the whole of the cultivated lands below.

1873.  Tegetmeier, Poultry Bk., xxix. 370. Supply a bed of clean straw in the feeding-house.

1886.  S. W. Linc. Gloss., *Feeding land, grazing land.

1887.  Daily News, 28 June, 2/5. Not much business passing in *feeding linseed.

1873.  J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 142. *Hand-feeding machines.

1891.  Lockwood’s Dict. Mech. Engin. Terms, 136. The *feeding metal is … supplied in small quantities.

1669.  J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 52. Just behind the Share and *Feeding-pipe.

1611.  Bible, Nahum ii. 11. Where is … the *feeding place of the yong Lions?

1883.  *Feeding-stuffs [see feeding-cake].

1859.  Luard, in Archæol. Cant., II. 8. *Feeding-vessels for the chickens.

1682.  Hickeringill, Black Non-Conformist, Wks. (1716), II. 144. This necessary *feeding-work of a good Shepherd.

  b.  Special comb., as feeding-bottle, a glass bottle for supplying artificial food to infants; also attrib. in figurative sense; feeding-box, (a) a compartment in which a horse is placed to be fed; (b) in hot air feeding-box, an appliance for ‘feeding’ hot air to a stove; feeding-cloth = feed-cloth; feeding-cup (see quot.); feeding-drum, a drum used for feeding certain kinds of furnaces; feeding-engine, -head, -needle (see quots.); feeding-piece, grazing ground; feeding-rod, a small metal rod used for keeping an open passage in a casting during the process of feeding; † feeding-stead, a pasture; feeding-time, (a) a time for taking food; meal-time; (b) dial. genial or growing weather (for crops); feeding-trace, a track showing where animals have obtained food; feeding-tube (see quot.).

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Feeding-bottle, a glass bottle for supplying milk or liquid nutriment to an infant in the absence or indisposition of its mother.

1884.  St. James’s Gaz., 2 Feb., 3/1. Napoleon foresaw the results of this feeding-bottle policy.

1887.  Hackney Gaz., 9 Feb., 2/7. Fitting up infant’s feeding-bottles.

1883.  Encycl. Brit., XV. 511/1, ‘Manure.’ When the manure is made in *feeding-boxes.

1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 65/1. Grates … with … hot air feeding box.

1821.  Specif. of Barker & Harris’s Patent, No. 4574, 4. The material [fur] to be cleared being taken off the feeding cloth or endless web.

1882.  J. W. Anderson, Med. Nursing, iv. (1883), 73. See that the *feeding cup and all vessels used for food are kept clean.

1884.  Syd. Soc. Lex., Feeding-cup, a vessel with a spout for the feeding of a sick person whilst lying down. Also, an oblong shallow vessel with a tubular end, to which a teat can be affixed for the artificial feeding of young children.

1854.  Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 151. As each scraper comes in turn under the *feeding-drum, the coal which has fallen between each of them will be carried forward to the end of the shelf.

1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 830/1. *Feeding engine. (Steam.) A supplementary engine for feeding the boiler, when the main engine is stopped. Ibid. *Feeding-head. (Founding.) An opening in a mold up which the metal rises, and which supplies metal as the casting contracts.

1831.  Brewster, Nat. Magic, xi. (1833), 289. A *feeding-needle [in the tambouring machine] which by a circular motion round the working-needle, lodged upon the stem of the latter the loop of the thread.

1796.  W. Marshall, Midland Counties, Gloss., *Feeding-piece.

1892.  Lockwood’s Dict. Mech. Engin. Terms, 136. *Feeding-rod.

14[?].  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 600. Pascua, a *ffedyngstede.

1887.  Darlington, Folk-speech S. Cheshire, Gloss., ‘It’s a rare *feedin’-time for th’ turmits.’

1888.  Illust. Lond. News, Christmas No. 11/1. A bell rang. There’s feeding-time, we’d best go down.

1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., II. iii. 38. The numerous *feeding-traces [of rabbits] among the rocks.

1884.  Syd. Soc. Lex., *Feeding tube, an elastic tube … which is passed into the stomach.