▪ I. bettering, vbl. n.
(ˈbɛtərɪŋ)
[f. better v.]
1. The action of making better or improving; amelioration, amendment, improvement.
| c 1375 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 55 Men may..take of hem þere just dettis for beterynge of þese dettours. 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1156/1 For the bettering of his sinful soul. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 3 The manuring, or bettering of all barren grounds. 1690 Norris Beatitudes (1694) I. 78 Nor..Does it tend to the bettering of others. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 124 ¶6 After having consulted many Oculists for the bettering of his Sight. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. i. viii. 86 The hope of bettering his condition animates him. 1862 Trench Miracles xix. 320 It was no true bettering of the disciples which they desired. |
2. The process of becoming better; improvement, progress in a right direction.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xxxii, Compare them with the bettering of the time. a 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Med. §40 (1851) 48 O God, thou art not capable, either of bettering, or of change. 1718 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 373 Your remark upon the bettering of my style in my History. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 191 Not they who err are damned; but who being wrong..Refuse all bettering. |
3. bettering-house, † bettering-mansion, a reformatory.
| 1735 Berkeley Querist Wks. 1871 III. 360 Whether there are not such things in Holland as bettering houses for bringing young gentlemen to order? 1740 Cheyne Regimen iii. 107 If they are reckon'd only Correction and Bettering Mansions. 1854 S. Austin Germany 83 Fit only for a penal colony or a bettering-house. |
▪ II. ˈbettering, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That makes or grows better; improving.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxxxii, Some fresher stampe of the time bettering dayes. 1876 Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. II 639 The struggling, distracted, half-blind, bettering earth. |