vbl. sb. dial. [f. BIG v. + -ING1.]
† 1. The fact of dwelling; sojourn, stay.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 718. Long bigging is here noȝt god.
b. Dwelling-place, habitation, home. Obs.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3163. Ðo was non biging of al egipte lichles.
c. 1400. Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 156. Bryng hus all to that bygyng bryghth.
c. 1425. Emare, 709. When he come to his byggynge, He welcomed fayr that lady yynge.
2. The action of building. north. dial.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 35. Byggynge, or beeldynge, edificatio, structura.
1527. Lanc. & Chesh. Wills (1854), 34. Sufficiant reparations and bydgynges of howses.
c. 1550. Sir J. Balfour, Practicks (1754), 34. For the bigging, mending and reparatioun of paroche kirkis.
1816. Scott, Antiq., iv. ‘Prætorian here, Prætorian there, I mind the bigging o’t.’
3. concr. A building, an edifice; also, an outbuilding as distinguished from a house. north. dial.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1774. Þe bigginnes fel bath hey and lau.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XXXV. 13452. Betwene the biggyng on þe buerne & þe burgh riche.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 35. Byggynge … edificium.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. (1822), 432. Magnificent housis and biggingis.
1681. Blount, Glossogr., Biggin, or Bigging in the northern parts is used for a fair house or Gentlemans Seat.
1790. Burns, Capt. Grose, iii. By some auld houlet-haunted biggin’ Or kirk deserted by its riggin’.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xxx. 442. About to fall asleep wi’ the length of the sermon and the heat of the biggin’.
1876. Grant, Burgh Sch. Scot., I. i. 25. Certain houses, crofts, biggings, lands and gardens.
