[f. STONE v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb, in various senses.
1. Pelting with stones; esp. (in ancient times) as a form of capital punishment.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19467. Quils þai him wit staning queld.
c. 1400. Sc. Trojan War, II. 1595. With mony bitter panes Of stanyng of hir moder schene.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 477/1. Stonynge, lapidacio.
1548. Elyot’s Dict., Lapidatio, a stonyng, a hurlynge of stones.
1657. Billingsly, Brachy-Martyrol., viii. 27. The Christians underwent all wrongs, As Scourgings, stonings.
1849. M. Arnold, Sick King in Bokhara, 112. They … sentenc’d him … To die by stoning.
1886. C. Bigg, Chr. Platonists Alexandria, iv. 117. He narrowly escaped stoning in the streets.
2. Paving, building up, or repairing with stones. Also concr.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 13. These roads … are laid … upon wood, (after … stoneing about ten or twelve inches thick for a foundation).
1819. [see GARLAND sb. 7].
1867. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Ser. II. III. II. 664. At the entrances to large rivers it was sometimes necessary … to have careful stoning, because the work was frequently tested by heavy seas.
3. Rubbing or scouring with a stone. Also attrib.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 92/2. (Wool carding) Stoning it [sc. the Card] is burnishing of it.
1882. Encycl. Brit., XIV. 387/1. In machine currying the tanned hides … are struck out in a ‘stoning’ machine.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Stoning Jack, a machine in which the jack is furnished with a stock stone to work the leather.
4. Clearing (ground) of stones; taking the stones out (of fruit).
1628. Bp. Hall, Fast Serm., 27. To what purpose is the fruitfulnesse, fencing, stoning, if the ground yeeld a plentiful Crop of … Weedes?
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, 154. To preserve Gooseberries whole without stoning.
5. Formation of the stone in fruit. Also attrib.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 475. The setting and stoning of fruit…. The fruit is thinned before and after the stoning season. Ibid., 484. When the stoning is completed and the fruit begins to swell.
