[f. TOLL v.2 + -ING1.] The action of TOLL v.2; the sounding of a large bell by slow regularly repeated strokes; esp. that of the passing-bell.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 352. [In 1264] by tollyng of the great belle of Paules, all the cytie shuld be redy shortly in harneys, to gyue attendaunce.
1526. [see PASSING-BELL].
1599. Massinger, etc., Old Law, III. i. I am afraid the tolling of the bell will wake her again.
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., IV. 69. My Fancy tuned so the Bell, As if her Towlings did the story tell Of my mortality.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 14, ¶ 5. I … have not missed tolling in to Prayers six times in all those years.
1874. Sir E. Beckett, Denison’s Clocks, Watches, & Bells (ed. 6), 359. The great superiority of tone of bells ringing in full swing over tolling, and even of tolling over striking by a clock hammer, has been often noticed.
b. transf. A sound resembling this; spec. (Sc.) a special humming sound made by the queen bee before swarming (see quots. 1747, 1830).
1747. Maxwell, Pract. Bee-Master, § 147. 46. This Sound, commonly called Towling, proceeds, I suppose, from the young King, giving Signal to his Company to make ready for a March.
1830. Edin. Encycl., s.v. Bee, II. 414/1. Most observers … affirm, that in the evening before swarming an uncommon humming or buzzing is heard in the hive, and a distinct sound from the queen, called tolling or calling.
1869. Sir V. Brooke. in Life (1894), 162. Nearer and nearer came the tolling of the grand old hound.
c. attrib. as tolling-lever, a lever attached to a bell or to the clapper by means of which the bell is tolled: see quot.
1874. Sir E. Beckett, Denison’s Clocks, Watches, & Bells (ed. 6), 357–8. Tolling-levers…. The great Worcester bell is hung on wedge-shaped gudgeons…, to enable it to be tolled, almost without friction, by a long lever; for the tower would not bear it in full swing…. But … it answers equally well to toll it by a short lever … projecting from the top of the clapper, and pulled by a slight rope.
