[f. SPELL v.2 So Du., Flem. and WFris. spelling.]
1. The action, practice, or art of naming the letters of words, of reading letter by letter, or of expressing words by letters.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 468/1. Spellynge, sillabicacio.
1451. Capgrave, Life St. Aug., 8. Thus lerned he þe smale scienses, as spellyng, reding and constrewyng, in his ȝong age.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 17 b. Shewe hym the maner of spellyng before wee teache hym to reade.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Espelement des syllables, a spelling of syllables.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 151. The former knowledge of spelling.
1693. Locke, Educ., § 143. His eldest Son, yet in Coats, has play’d himself into Spelling with great eagerness.
1758. L. Temple, Sketches (ed. 2), 18. Of the Modern Art of Spelling.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 270. Compositors … never can arrive to one regular way of Spelling.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1837), III. 343. There is one branch of learning without which learning itself cannot be railed at with common decency, namely, spelling.
1871. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue, ii. 121. That which we call a settled orthography is a habit of spelling which admits only of rare modification.
2. Manner of expressing or writing words with letters; orthography. Also fig.
c. 1661. Marq. Argyle’s Last Will, in Harl. Misc. (1746), VIII. 29/2. It is most evident, that the right Spelling of Covenant is Covetousness.
1693. Dryden, Disc. Satire, Ess. (ed. Ker), II. 67. In the criticism of spelling, it ought to be with i, and not with y.
1697. C. Leslie, Snake in Grass (ed. 2), 112. By some unusual Spelling of some words.
1770. [Sir D. Dalrymple], Anc. Scottish Poems, 271. From the spelling of the specimens … I incline to think [etc.].
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xviii. IV. 245. The letter may still be read with all the original bad grammar and bad spelling.
1894. W. M. Lindsay, Latin Lang., i. § 12. However natural it may appear for the Romans to have adopted Greek spelling.
b. A particular instance of this; a special collocation of letters representing a word.
1731–8. Swift, Polite Conv., Introd. 50. Of these Spellings the Publick will meet with many Examples.
1758. L. Temple, Sketches (ed. 2), 18. An Author seems reduced to great Extremities, who flies to new Spellings to distinguish himself.
1811. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), II. x. 351. All the license of using obsolete words and uncommon spellings.
1894. W. M. Lindsay, Latin Lang., i. § 8. The dates at which these spellings are first found on inscriptions.
3. attrib., as spelling-bee (BEE1 4), -game, -lesson, -reform(er, etc. Also SPELLING-BOOK.
1731. T. Dyche (title), The Spelling Dictionary.
1815. Scott, Guy M., li. He had … the strongest desire … to resume spelling lessons and half-text.
1849–50. (title) The Spelling Reformer. Edited by A. J. Ellis.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 5504, Alphabet and spelling game, adapted for infant-schools and nurseries.
1873. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue (ed. 2), 179. Many proposals for spelling-reform have been made in this country and in America.
1875. Ann. Reg., 111. A Spelling Bee has been held at the Myddelton Hall, Islington.
1880–3. (title), The Spelling Experimenter…. Conducted by W. R. Evans.
