[f. LAY v.1 + -ING1.]
1. The action of LAY v.1 in various senses; putting, setting, placing, fixing, esp. in a designed position; † assessment, taxation; † accouchement; etc.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 261. Þe lond fulle hard was sette in þat ilk laying.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 294/2. Leyynge of a thynge, posicio.
1472–3. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 644. Pro le laynge fusi et rynde molendini [cf. LAY v. 3 b].
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxliii. (1482), 290. Anone he leyd his ordynaunce and in the leyng of a gonne come a quarell and smote the good Erle Edmond in the hede.
1486. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 13. The … openyng and newe leying of old Ropes.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 245. To reise the siege, at the layeng whereof he was counsayler and partener.
1611. Cotgr., Proposition d’ erreur, a Writ, or the laying, of Error.
1611. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 63. Item payed for laying of thre hoggs, vj d.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 669. Another ill Accident is Laying of Corne with great Raines in Haruest.
1660. Sharrock, Vegetables, 59. Circumposition is a kind of laying … In this the mould is born up to the bough which is to be taken off.
1662. Pepys, Diary, 25 May. They do say there are some plots in laying.
1712. Prideaux, Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4), 53. The laying of the Church Rate ought to be according to the Lands and the Stock.
1796. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVI. 485/1. The operation of uniting them [i.e., strands of a rope] with a permanent twist is called laying.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 373. Laying consists in spreading a single coat of lime and hair all over a ceiling and partition.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 112. No. 6 … attends stool bed, elevating screw and quoin in laying.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. iii. 136. Godard saw a female [Meloe] deposit in two layings 2212 eggs.
b. with advs. or advb. phr. (see LAY v.1 VIII).
1496. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 174. Mappes for layng on of piche Rosyn & talow uppon the seid ship.
1526. Tindale, 1 Tim. iv. 14. Leyinge on of the hondes of a seniour.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Esdras viii. 51. Because of the layenges awayte.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 240. In the dispensing or laying out of your goods.
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. i. 182. We haue many pocky Coarses now adaies, that will scarce hold the laying in.
1608[?]. E. M. Wingfield, Disc. Virginia, in Capt. Smith, Wks. (Arb.), I. p. xc. I misliked his leying out of our towne.
a. 1659. Osborn, Misc. (1673), 603. Her Comings-in are Mathematically adjusted to her Layings-out.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 76/1. Ware-houses or Vaults for the laying up of Goods.
1817. Keats, Lett., Wks. 1889, III. 76. One of my chief layings-up is the pleasure I shall have in showing it to you.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xix. She went to a lying-in or a laying-out with equal zest and relish.
1869. Sir E. Reed, Shipbuild., xx. 429. The laying-off of the ship is proceeded with simultaneously with the preparation of the model.
1879. T. H. S. Escott, England, I. 60. The laying down of main roads.
1892. Gardiner, Student’s Hist. Eng., 21. The erection of fortifications, and the laying out of streets.
2. concr. a. What is laid, in various senses of the vb. b. A layer, bed, stratum. c. An oyster-bed. d. Building. (See quot. 1823.)
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. vii. (1495), 417. Alle byrdes that ben lyke to Culuores … laye not the thyrde tyme but whan the seconde layenge is corrupte and dystroyed.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxiv. ¶ 9. Having laid down his Dry Laying, he takes another Quire off the Dry Heap.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 205. You must … cover with Sand every Laying, or Bed of Lime.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 391. Laying, in plastering.—The first coat on lath of two-coat plaster, or set-work.
1846. McCulloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 637. The oysters … are deposited for a while in beds or layings in the adjoining creeks.
1863. C. R. Markham, in Intell. Observ., IV. 624. The brood [oysters two years old] are dredged up out at sea, and placed on layings within the river Colne.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Layings, a sort of pavement of culch, on the mud of estuaries, for forming a bed for oysters.
3. attrib. and Comb., as laying-place; laying-hook (see quot.); laying-house, the house or building in which rope is ‘laid’ or made; laying-machine, a machine for ‘laying’ strands into a rope; laying-on table Printing, a table from which the machine is fed; laying-on tool Bookbinding, the tool with which gold leaf is laid on the cover or the edge of a book; laying-press Bookbinding, a press in which books are held while their edges are being cut (also called lying-press); laying-tool, -trowel, a plasterer’s trowel (see quot. 1825); laying-top, a grooved conical piece of wood placed between the strands in ‘laying’ a rope, a TOP; laying-walk, that part of a rope-walk in which the rope is laid.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, 55. *Laying Hook, the hook on which the strands are all hung together for laying or closing.
1778. Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Portsmouth, The fire was first seen to burst through the roof of the *laying-house.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1091. Captain Huddart constructed a *laying-machine, which has carried his inventions in rope-making to the greatest perfection.
1849. Chambers’ Inform., II. 719/2. On the gallery are seen eight men at so many *‘laying-on-tables,’ feeding the machine.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Laying-on-tool, a bookbinder’s tool; a tip.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. ix. The favourite *laying-place of several discreet hens.
1835. Hannett, Bibliopegia, 172. The cutting or *laying press is formed of two strong cheeks of timber, connected together with two wooden screws and two square pins.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 606. The *laying and smoothing tool consists of a flat piece of hardened iron, about ten inches in length, and two inches and a half wide, very thin, and ground to a semicircular shape at one end, but left square at the other.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1073. In laying cables, torsion must be given both behind and before the *laying top.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 249. A *Laying Trowel, to lay the Lime and Hair withall upon the Laths, it being larger than a Brick Trowel, and fastned [to] its handle in a different manner.
1778. Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2), s.v. Portsmouth, The rope-makers *laying-walk and tarring-walk.
