Footing

vbl. sb. [f. FOOT v. + -ING¹.]

  1.  The act of walking, pacing, or stepping; a step or tread. Now rare. † To set footing: to set foot (in, on a place), to enter. (Also fig.)

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 89.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 87.

1604.  E. G[rimston], trans. Acosta’s Nat. & Mor. Hist. Indies, III. xv. 163. For that man hath not so long a sight, nor so nimble and swift footing as were needefull, to transporte his eyes from one parte to another, in so short a time, as a tide will give him respite, which are only six houres.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, X. 294.

1637.  G. Daniel, Genius of Isle, 430.

1642.  Remonst. conc. Ch. & Kingd. Irel., 7. They will, with the assistance of Spaine and France, set footing in England.

1820.  Keats, Isabella, xxiii.

  † b.  The action of setting foot upon land.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., II. i. 76.

  c.  Moving with measured tread, dancing; † also, a dance.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer (1588), Y v b. To daunce well without ouer nimble footinges or too busie trickes.

1596.  Davies, Ochestra, xiv.

1652.  Peyton, Catastr. Ho. Stuarts (1731), 14. Queen Anne, who had trod so many stately Footings in Masks at Court.

1760.  Goldsm., Cit. World, lii. ¶ 6. A ’squire from the country, and desirous of learning the new manner of footing, and smoothing up the rudiments of his rural minuet.

  2.  A mark or impression left by the foot; a footprint, or footprints collectively; a trace, track, trail. Also fig. (cf. footstep). Now rare.

1572.  trans. Buchanan’s Detect. Mary Q. Scots, M j. I will nat here precisely trace out all the footynges of the wickit doynges.

1576.  Turberv., Venerie, 64. Let him firste marke what manner of Slotte or footing it is.

1579.  E. K., Ep. Ded., to Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., § 4. So Marot, Sanazarus, and also diuers other excellent both Italian and French Poetes, whose foting this Author euery where followeth, yet so as few, but they be wel sented can trace him out.

1694.  Sanderson, 12 Serm. (1637), 420. God hath imprinted, as before I said, some steps and footings of his goodnesse in the Creatures.

1727.  Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Hart, The Tracts or Footing of divers sorts of Beasts.

1841.  Disraeli, Amen. Lit. (1867), 69. In Normandy we trace the first footings of our national power.

1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, v. First let us walk round the copse and find her slot, as we call the track of a deer. See, here is her footing.

  † 3.  Recovery (of a woman after confinement) ? Obs. exc. in footing-time (see 17). Cf. on foot.

1566.  Painter, Pal. Pleas. I. 91. He asked the wife how she did, and prayed the Gods to sende her good footing, and then inquired of her trauel, and painfull panges.

  4.  The action of placing the feet so as not to slip or stumble; stable position of the feet, foothold.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. liv. (1495), 170. The sole of the fote is flesshly and playne forwarde and bakwarde to haue fotynge.

c. 1500.  Melusine, lv. 332. But footyng faylled hym, & [he] fell doun deed to the grounde.

a. 1529.  Skelton, Col. Cloute, 1075.

1670.  Dryden, The Conquest of Granada, I. IV. ii.

1708.  Prior, Turtle & Sparrow, 365.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., I. xiv.

1869.  C. Gibbon, Robin Gray, I. iv. 62. ‘Come awa, Dawnie, and mind your futting.’

  b.  The action or manner of placing the feet for standing in a given position.

1545.  Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 147. The fyrste poynte is when a man shoulde shote, to take suche footyng and standyng as shal be both cumlye to the eye and profytable to his vse.

1856.  H. A. Ford, Archery, ix. 62. The footing must be firm, yet at the same time easy and springy, and the more natural it is the more likely it is to possess these qualities.

  5.  Support for the foot; surface (favorable or the contrary) for walking or standing upon.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 191.

1627.  May, Lucan, III. 601.

1789.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 8 July. I am delighted with the soft air and soft footing upon the sands, and stroll up and down them morning, noon, and night.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., IV. xxi.

1824.  Heber, Jrnl. (1828), II. 44. She said, if we kept well to the right hand, without going beyond an old tree, it was probable we should find safe footing.

  † b.  A notch or ledge for the foot, a ‘step.’ Obs.

1725.  De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 266. We, by footings made in the rocks, descended, as we might say, down a pair of stairs of half a mile long.

  6.  fig. Firm or secure position; established place; foothold, establishment.

1586.  Walsingham, Lett., 4 March, in Spottiswood, Hist. Ch. Scot. (1655), 361. They have been content in former times, when England had a footing in France, so serve themselves of your Nation, therewith to annoy this Realm.

1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xii. 407. A lie cursorily told takes little footing and settled fastnesse in the tellers memory, but prints it self deeper in the hearers, who take the greater notice because of the improbability and deformity thereof.

1710.  Berkeley, Princ. Hum. Knowl., § 55. There was a time when the antipodes and motion of the earth were looked upon as monstrous absurdities, even by men of learning; and if it be considered what a small proportion they bear to the rest of mankind, we shall find that at this day those notions have gained but a very inconsiderable footing in the world.

1815.  W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 120, note. This clerical baronet has vainly endeavoured to gain a footing upon the theatrical boards, his dramatic efforts being of the most mediocre cast, not to say in some respects indecorous.

1869.  Trollope, He knew, xxii. She nad never quite known, quite understood as yet, whether she had made good her footing in her aunt’s house in a manner pleasant to her aunt.

  † 7.  The foundation, ground, or basis on which anything rests or from which it springs. Obs.

1581.  H. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 407. All which do come altogether to vtter ruine, if Purgatory decay once: but if Purgatory hold fast, then are they all of good footing.

a. 1617.  Hieron, Wks., 1619, II. 441. It will haue all Kings to hold of the Bishop of Rome in chiefe, to acknowledge a dependance vpon him, and their Kingdomes, and their Crownes, to be at his will. A thing for which we find no footing in the Scripture.

1674.  N. Fairfax, A Treatise of the Bulk and Selvedge of the World, 46. This way of speaking has so good footing, that in the Book of books it self, we find not only the same oftentimes, but even a step beyond it sometimes.

  8.  The conditions and arrangements, the understood state of things, on which an institution, etc., is established; the position or status due or assigned to a person, etc., in estimation or treatment. On the same, on one or a footing (with): on an equality.

1657.  Cromwell, Sp., 21 April. I think we are now to consider, not what we are in regard to our Footing and that of the Government which called this Parliament.

1657–8.  Burton’s Diary (1828), II. 440. It is not long since they got the title of Lords. Anciently, all were upon one footing of account, and they are but at most created by you.

1741.  trans. D’Argens’ Chinese Lett., xx. 136. This coming to the Knowledge of the Japanese Ministers, they resolved to put the Chinese on the same Footing as the Dutch, and they even thought us more dangerous than the Dutch, because we favour’d the cruel Enemies whom they had helped them to destroy.

1769.  Junius Lett., No. 2 (1804), I. 24, n. 2. The present condition of the army gives the directest lie to his assertions. It was never upon a more respectable footing with regard to discipline, and all the essentials that can form good soldiers.

1807–8.  Syd. Smith, Plymley’s Lett., Wks. (1859), II. 177/1. What the Catholics ask for is to be put on a footing with the Protestant Dissenters.

1818.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. iv. 424. Mahomed Ali was in that article placed upon the footing of an ally of the King of Great Britain.

1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., i. (1889), 3. Under their auspices, gentlemen-commoners increased and multiplied; in fact, the eldest sons of baronets, even of squires, were scarcely admitted on any other footing.

1894.  Times (weekly ed.), 9 Feb., 115/2. The Khedive … stands upon an altogether different fooling from the Sultan.

  b.  The ‘terms’ on which a person stands in intercourse with another; degree of intimacy or favor; relative status (as an equal, superior, or inferior).

1742.  Fielding, J. Andrews, II. iv. Horatio and Leonora were what they call on a good footing together.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xx. I was admitted to his table upon the footing of half friend, half underling.

1796.  Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., v. 188. You see on what a footing we are.

  9.  Entrance on a new position, etc. (in phr. to pay for one’s footing); hence, a fee demanded of a person on doing something for the first time or on being admitted to any trade, society, etc.

1710.  Brit. Apollo, III. No. 12, 2/2. Young … Sinners … not yet of Age to pay for their Footing in St. James’s Park.

1777.  [see CHUMMAGE 2].

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, vii. ‘Hand out my footing,’ said I, puzzled, and appealing to the midshipman, ‘what does he mean?’ ‘He means that you must fork out a seven-shilling bit.’

1862.  Trollope, Small Ho. at Allington, ii. Mr. Crosbie, making an attempt to pitch the hay into the cart, had to pay half a crown for his footing to the haymakers.

  10.  The action of putting a foot to anything.

1805.  W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., III. 65/1. Shop-keeping, letting chairs in the public churches, weaving, footing, and grafting silk stockings, letting drawers to bathers, seaming for the tailors, painting decorations on furniture, are mostly performed by women, many of whom live unmarried and rear a family with considerable decorum and facility.

1882.  Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, Footing.—A term employed in the Knitting of stockings, when the feet of the latter, having been worn out, have to be replaced by others knitted on to the original legs.

  11.  concr. That with which something is ‘footed.’

  a.  Material used to ‘foot’ boots, stockings, etc.

1591.  Percivall, Sp. Dict., Cabeçado, new footings of bootes.

1707.  J. Stevens, Quevedo’s Com. Wks. (1709), 222. It was once a pair of wide kneed breeches, grandchild to a short cloak, and great grandchild to a long mourner’s cloak, which was its first parent, and now it waits to be converted into footing for stockings, and forty other things.

  † b.  = FOOT sb. 10.

1659.  Torriano, Fústo, the shank, the supporter, the stalk or footing of any thing.

  c.  Lace. (See quot. 1881.)

1692.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2733/4. One … Petticoat, having 3 black Fringes, with Footings. Ibid. (1697), No. 3250/4. 3 yards of Silver Lace and Footing.

1865.  Mrs. Palliser, Lace, xix. 230. Château-Renaud and Mézières were chiefly employed in the manufacture of footings (engrêlures).

1882.  Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, Footing.… The word is also known as Engrêlure, and is used by laceworkers to distinguish the edge of the Lace that is sewn to the dress from the scalloped and unattached edge. The Footing is sometimes worked with the rest of the design, and at others as a separate narrow lace, being then sewn on to the main part.

  d.  A piece of hard wood dovetailed on to the pile-end of an arrow.

1856.  H. A. Ford, Archery, v. 30. For footing, any hard wood will do: and if this be solid for one inch below the pile, it will be amply sufficient.

1887.  W. Butt, Ford’s Archery, iii. 37–8. Great care should be taken, in the manufacture of arrows, that the footing exactly fits the pile, so as to fill entirely the inside of it.

  e.  Printing, etc. (See quots.)

1676.  Moxon, Print. Lett., 7. The Footing is the small Arches the Letter stands on, as the Arches upon the feet of Letter A is the Footing of that Letter. Ibid. (1683), Mech. Exerc., II. 126. The Footing, is the straight fine Stroak or Stroaks that lie in the Foot-Line of Letters, either Ascending or Descending.

  12.  Arch. A projecting course or courses at the base or foundation of a wall or other erection to give it security.

1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 255. All Walls ought to have a Basis, or Footing, at least 4 Inches on a side broader than the thickness of the Wall.

1838.  Simms, Pub. Wks. Gt. Brit., 25. The footings of the abutments will be made eighteen inches below the level.

1881.  Young, Every man his own mechanic, § 23. He should get a bricklayer to show him how to prepare his foundations with spade and level, and how to put in the footings of his wall.

  13.  A place hollowed out or otherwise prepared for receiving the foot of a timber or the like.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 88. In the center of the house a slight footing was cut for the mast, suitable to a square of 18 inches.

  14.  The action of adding up a column of figures, etc.; the result thus obtained, sum total.

1855.  H. Clarke, Dict., Footing … reckoning; dance; sum total.

1881.  Chicago Times, 4 June. The final footings of the debt of all cities … of the United States … were made last week.

1884.  G. Pomeroy Kesse, Beef, in Harper’s Mag., LXIX. July, 296/2. While some classes have risen more than others, we could easily add twenty per cent. to the gross footings of the entire list, a corresponding increase, of course, being charged upon the original purchase.

  15.  The action of collecting turf; also, the heaps so formed. Sc. and Irish dial.

1802.  Findlater, Agric. Surv. Peebles, 209. When the peat have become so hardened by the drought, that they will stand on end, they are placed on end three or four together, and leaning against each other; this is called footing the peats.

1825.  Jamieson, Fittings, turfs set on edge.

1841.  S. C. Hall, Ireland (1842), II. 263, note. Footing, which means collecting the turf into parcels of about six each, placing them on end in a circle, and supported against each other by meeting in a point at the top.

1880.  Antrim & Down Gloss., Footins, smalt heaps of cut peat.

  16.  Whale-fishing. (See quot. 1858.)

1820.  Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 402. Besides oil and fenks, the blubber of the whale likewise affords a considerable quantity of watery liquor, produced probably from the putrescence of the blood, on the surface of which, some of the fenks, and all the greasy animal matter called footje or footing, float, and upon the top of these the oil.

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Footing, the finer detached fragments of the fenks, or refuse whale blubber, not wholly deprived of oil.

  17.  attrib. and Comb., as footing-place; footing-ale (see quots.); footing beam, f. dormant, the tie-beam of a roof; footing-time (dial.), the time when a woman rises from childbed.

1824.  Craven Dialect, 75. *Footing-ale, Liquor or money given by a person on entering a new employment.

1825.  Jamieson, Fittin-ale, an entertainment given by parents when they have a child that taks the fit or foot, i.e., begins to walk.

1842.  Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., Gloss., *Footing Beam, the name given, in some of the provinces, to the tie-beam of a roof.

1846.  Buchanan, Techn. Dict., *Footing Dormant in carpentry, a name for the tie-beam of a roof.

1611.  Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xii. § 74. The possession of the Citie of Vannes in base Brittain, the Englishmen still kept, that (if setled peace followed not vpon this Truce) they might haue some holde and certaine *footing-place, from whence to make head againe, and march into the heart of France.

1674.  Ray, S. & E. C. Words, 66. *Footing time, Norf. is the same with upsetting time in Yorksh. when the Puerpera gets up.