[f. as prec. + -ING1.] The action of the verb in various senses. a. The action of taking rabbits, etc. with a ferret. b. The action or process of searching minutely.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 180. I accoumpte ferrettyng one of the coldest and vnpleasantest chases that can be followed.
1673. News from Channel, in Ansted, Channel Isl., I. iv. (1862), 89. Whither we commonly go a ferreting.
1859. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. II. I. v. 201. A poet of our own times has been heard to say, ‘What a blessing it is, that, notwithstanding all the ferreting that has gone on, we know, comparatively speaking, so little of Shakespeare’s life.’
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in a Southern County, 136. The guns are laid aside, though some ferreting is still going on.
