vbl. sb. [f. TRUSS v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb TRUSS, in various senses.
1340. Ayenb., 176. Ynoȝ þer is of ydelnesse aboute hire heaued, to kembe, to wesse, ine trossinge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4653. All turnyt þaire tacle with trussyng of sailes.
1468–9. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 11. Pro le trussyng magne campane ad thascum x d.
1540. Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading, 59. For trussing of the greate bell.
1615. Latham, Falconry (1633), Explan. Words, Trussing is when a Hawke raiseth a fowle aloft, and so descendeth downe with it to the ground.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 75. Let your loins be girded…. There must be a holy girding and trussing up for heaven.
1694. R. L’Estrange, Fables, clxxvii. (1714), 190. The Trussing up of Thieves is the Security of Honest Men.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 124. To frame timbers, so that their external surfaces shall keep this position, is the business of trussing.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., iv. Not a chicken, or turkey, or duck … but looked grave when they saw her approaching,… she was always meditating on trussing, stuffing, and roasting.
2. concr. The timber or other material forming a truss (TRUSS sb. 6); a work or structure consisting of trusses.
1840. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., III. 43/1. A plan of the trussed foot-bridge … exhibiting the trussing and cast iron frames.
1890. W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 49. A platform of temporary girders … strengthened by supplementary trussing.
3. attrib. Adapted or used for ‘trussing,’ packing, or tying up (obs. exc. Hist.), as trussing chest, coffer, gear, mail, -needle, point, -thread; adapted for being ‘trussed’ or packed up for travelling (obs. exc. Hist.), as trussing bed, bedstead, chalice; used for trussing (in various senses of the verb), as (sense 1 d) trussing-rope, (sense 10) -key, -nail, (sense 11) -hoop, -machine, (sense 12 b) -bar, -bolt, -piece, -rod; also † trussing-bolster: see quot., and cf. TRUSS sb. 3 a; † trussing-coat, a padded jacket worn under armor.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 318/2. So long as it [the beam] retains this curvature the weight laid upon it must eventually press upon the *trussing-bars.
1398. Will John of Gaunt, in Armitage Smith, Life (1904), 426. Lits faitz pur mon corps, appelles en Engleterre *trussyng beddes.
1482. Marg. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 286. A litel white bedde … for a trussyng bedde.
1572. in Whitaker, Hist. Craven (1812), 327. One trussing bedd for the field.
1861. Our Eng. Home, 105. Portable beds were often called ‘trussing’ beds.
1534. Inv. Wardr. Kath. Arragon, in Camden Misc. (1855), 34. A lytille *trussinge bedsteede … withe two lether cases to trusse it in.
1910. E. R. Suffling, Eng. Ch. Brasses, 110. *Trussing-Bolster, a padded belt for equalising and taking the weight of the heavy cuirass.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 319/2. Through these eyes were passed vertical bars or *trussing-bolts.
1440. in Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 182. My *trushing challis and my highest guilt chalis.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. Item for a *trussyng cheste ii. s.
a. 1562. Cavendish, Wolsey (1893), 257. Syttyng uppon a trussyng chest.
1884. Leisure Hour, April, 233/1. Large trunks, used for general packing … were called trussing-chests.
1493. Will of W. Oseney (Somerset Ho.). A *trussing coat.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 365. His malys … his bouges and his *trussynge cofres.
1485. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees), 368. ij trussyng coffers 3s. … unum magnum trussyng mayle precii 2s.
1466. Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 367. I payd fore viij. heles [= ells] of kanas for *trosenge gere, xx.d.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 108/1. *Trussing Hoop, is a large strong Hoop … first put about the Barrel staves to draw them to their compass.
1621–2. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 172. ix *trussinge keyes.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Trussing-machine, one for drawing the truss-hoops upon casks.
1833. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 83. Trussing machine and accumulator.
1485. *Trussyng mayle [see trussing coffer above].
1621–2. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 172. One Hundred of *Trussinge nayles 10d.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 149. To try when done run a *trussing needle into them.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 595. *Trussing-pieces, such timbers in a roof as are in a state of compression.
1548. Elyot, Strigmentum … it maie be vsed for a *trussyng pointe.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 319/1. A formula for calculating the size of the iron *trussing-rods.
1420. in For. Acc. 3 Hen. VI., G/2 dorso, j haunser pro *trussynge rope.
1369–22. Exch. Acc. K. R., Bundle 178 No. 16 m. 4 (P.R.O.). lxiiij lb. fili pro cordis balistarum, lij lb. *trussyngthred, lj lb. di. trenchefyll.
