[f. SPEED v.]
1. Success, prosperity, good fortune; the fact of being successful or of attaining one’s end.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 23716. Þat dos all vr speding spill.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 112. It [sc. Mercury in mid-heaven] shal shewe spedynge of þe werk & perfeccion.
c. 1460. Play of Sacrament, 112. In Spayne & in Spruce moche ys my spedyng.
a. 1555. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (Parker Soc.), 234. For which like doings we shall have like speedings.
1570. T. Norton, trans. Nowell’s Catech. (1853), 187. Such as pray doubting and uncertain of their speeding.
1608. Shaks., Per., II. iii. 116. Each one betake him to his rest; To-morrow all for speeding do their best.
1686. F. Spence, trans. Varillas’ Ho. Medicis, 393. Either th’one or t’other of these two conspiracies cou’d not have miss’d of speeding, if the Duke … had not revealed them.
1713. M. Henry, Ordinat. Serm., Wks. 1857, II. 503/1. Those who go without sending, will come back without speeding.
1726. S. Willard, Body Div., 900/1. How we may so ask as not to miss of speeding in it.
b. Lot or hap in respect of success.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 9. By practise and ill speeding, these lessons had their breeding.
1599. Shaks., etc. Pass. Pilgr., xviii. Heart is bleeding, All help needing, O cruel speeding, Fraughted with gall.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., II. 37. The not deferring is of great moment to the good speeding.
† 2. The action of sending out or forth. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Judith ii. 7. Olofernes … noumbrede men in to the speding [L. in expeditionem], as the king comaundede to hym.
3. The action of aiding, furthering, or setting forward.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 94. Yn spedynge of goodnesse.
1530. Palsgr., 711/2. I set a syde, as counsaylours or judges do all their maters for the hasty spedynge of some one.
1625. Sanderson, Serm. (1681), I. 125. To give any kind of furtherance to the speeding either of justice in civil, or of judgment in criminal causes.
1672. T. Cory, Course & Pract. Comm.-Pl., 30. The Plaintiff was not bound to give the Defendant notice of the speeding a Writ of Inquiry of Damages.
4. With up: The process of increasing the rate of work or production.
1892. Daily News, 8 Feb., 6/2. One of the most remarkable features of modern industrial enterprise is the great ‘speeding up’ of industry.
1897. S. & B. Webb, Industr. Democr., I. viii. 399. This enforced ‘speeding up’ would be all very well if the old plan of paying by the piece were continued.
