vbl. sb.1 [f. SUPPLY v.1 + -ING1.] The action of SUPPLY v.1 in various senses; filling of a place or vacancy; substitution; † supplementation; † assistance, reinforcement (Sc.); provision, supply.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 453. Hou cristis chirche is disseyued bi suppliyng of vikeris, & þes persouns ben absent þe while.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 105. In that castell the erle gert hald thaim in, At to thar men with out thai mycht nocht wyn; Na thai to thaim suppleyng for to ma.
1499. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., I. 46/1. The … suppleing and assistance gevin be him to diuers rebellis.
1570. T. Norton, trans. Nowell’s Catech., 73. That thys their confirmation should be taken for a certaine supplying [orig. supplementum] of Baptisme … as though Baptisme els were vnperfect.
1586. Acts Privy Council (N. S.), 166. The said summe … to be by him employed for the supplyinge of the store with the same parcells.
1625. Donne, Serm., Christmas Day (1640), 22. A filling of all former vacuities, a supplying of all emptinesses in our soules.
1625–6. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 444. To the Glasier … for ye supplyeinge of paynted glasse.
1626. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 474. The supplieing and refreshing of the needefull exigentes of the poore.
1643. Baker, Chron., Hen. VIII., 38. The Emperour gave to the Master of Saint Iohns of Hierusalem the Island of Maltas, in supplying of the Island of Rodes, which the Turke … had won from that Order.
1682. in Scott. Antiq. (1901), July, 3. In the … suppleing of vacant places within the colledge.
1883. Athenæum, 26 May, 661/1. Mysteries … partly solved by the supplying of a date or a name.
So Supplying ppl. a.,1 that supplies.
1798. Hutton, Course Math. (1807), II. 273. A … vessel kept constantly full of water, by a large supplying cock at the top.
1895. Daily News, 2 Jan., 5/7. The credit system on which the fisheries, which are the staple industry, are conducted is thoroughly unsound, perilous to the supplying merchants, [etc.].
† Supplying ppl. a.2 Obs.: see SUPPLY v.3
