vbl. sb. Also 5 stobenge, 8 pl. stubbens. [f. STUB v.1 + -ING1.] The action of the vb. STUB in various senses.
1445. trans. Claudianus, in Anglia, XXVIII. 277. Loondys which were vntilied … daies right many beforne [he] after his stubbyng staryth [? read storyth: L. restituit].
1464. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 455. He schal haue fore the stobenge of them … xxvi. viii d.
1574. in J. J. Cartwright, Chapters Hist. Yorks. (1872), 75. The fencyng, stubbyng and dressyng of the ground.
1577. Grange, Golden Aphrod., Ep. Ded. A iij b. It seemeth the nebbe of my penne is long, and that I lesse do feare the stubbing therof.
1607. Markham, Cavel., III. 6. In woody … grounds where a horse can neither conveniently make foorth his way, nor can tread without danger of stubbing.
1732. Berkeley, Minute Philos., I. 6. The mind of Man may be fitly compared to a piece of Land. What stubbing, plowing, digging and harrowing is to the one, that thinking … is to the other.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1804), VI. 457. The tree itself possesses a peculiar faculty of branching provincially called stubbing.
1861. L. L. Noble, Icebergs, 312. An unlucky stubbing of my naked toes.
1887. J. A. Phillips & Bauerman, Elem. Metall. (ed. 2), 604. A few buckets of water are thrown into the hearth, in order … to cool it previous to the clearing or stubbing-out necessary before commencing another shift.
b. attrib.
1567. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 211. In the stubbing close one stake of hay.
1832. Min. Evid. Comm. Factories Bill, 24. The cording and stubbing machinery.
