[In form and sense, the ordinary vbl. sb. in -ING1 from TIPPLE v.1; as to date, etc., see the latter.] The action of TIPPLE v.1
† 1. The retailing of ale or other strong drink; the business of a ‘tippler’ (TIPPLER1 1). Obs.
1531. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 106. Persons that occupye any typpellyng or coblers crafte. Ibid. (1579), 400. To be discharged from keepinge of any tipplinge.
1550–1. in W. Hudson, Leet Jurisd. Norwich (1892), 87. Amercyd for typplyng of ale and bere with unlawfull metts & measures.
1594. in J. Morris, Troub. Cath. Forefathers (1877), 280. Also Dorothy Browne, widow who … was heretofore discharged in open sessions from brewing and tippling.
2. The drinking of intoxicating drink, esp. in small quantities and often; habitual indulgence in liquor (to some degree of excess, but usually not amounting to positive drunkenness).
1567. Lett., in A. Jenkinson’s Voy. & Trav. (Hakl. Soc.), II. 214. If this typling be not left we will sende no more wyne.
1665. Needham, Med. Medicinæ, 406. Perpetual Tiplings and large drinking Bouts.
1771. Wesley, Wks. (1872), VI. 152. Preventing tippling on the Lord’s day, spending the time in alehouses.
1868. Regul. & Ord. Army, ¶ 942. No tippling or gambling is to be allowed in any of the barrack rooms.
3. attrib. and Comb. (See also TIPPLING-HOUSE.)
Tippling Act, Act 24 Geo. II., c. 40.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1595), 135. But in the ende … this bribing wretch was forced for to hold a typling booth, most like a clowne or snuch.
1616. Sylvester, Tobacco Battered, 215. ’Tis vented most in Taverns, Tippling-cots, To Ruffians, Roarers, Tipsie-Tostie-pots.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., Democr. to Rdr. (1628), 55. We liue wholly by Tippling-Innes and Ale-Houses.
1755. W. Duncan, Cicero’s Sel. Orat., xvi. (1816), 623. Under his roofs are … tippling-shops instead of dining rooms.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 695. The rabble all alive From tipling-benches … Swarm in the streets.
