sinking

▪ I. sinking, vbl. n.
    (ˈsɪŋkɪŋ)
    [f. sink v. + -ing¹. Cf. Fris. sinking, Du. zinking, G. sinkung.]
    1. The action of the vb. in intransitive senses: a. Denoting an actual downward movement.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 78/1 Cynkynge, dimersio, submercio. a 1500 in Bernard. de cura rei fam. (E.E.T.S.) 33 Þe barge of bariona [sall] bowne to the senkyne. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Sedimentum, a sinkyng downe to the botome. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 78 The Sailors..left the ship then sinking ripe to vs. 1630 in Binnell Descr. Thames (1758) 74 No Trinck shall stand to fish..at the rising or sinking of any Mother-Fishes. 1662 Gerbier Principles 19 To prevent the sinking and bending of their Walls. 1765 Foote Commissary ii. Wks. 1799 II. 22 One, two, three, ha. There are risings and sinkings [of the body in dancing]! 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 460 The alternate swelling and sinking of the brain, during inspiration and expiration. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 348 The sinking of the one knob and the swimming of the other. 1890 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XLVI. i. 34 The numerous deep crevasses, sinkings in and landslips. 1895 Outing XXVII. 203/1 Bend the knees quickly and fall soft—a sinking down is better for the flesh than a downright tumble.

    b. In various fig. or transf. uses. Also with in.

1717–8 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) VI. 126 This sinking of the value of Money creates abundance of Murmuring. 1727 Pope (title), Peri Bathous: or, Martinus Scriblerus his Treatise of the Art of Sinking in Poetry. 1740–1 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 11 These are wonderful sinkings from purpose. a 1851 Moir Poems (1852) II. 11 In his soarings he was Heavenly, In his sinkings he was man. 1897 Daily News 18 June 4/3 The sinking of the prices paid in the London markets. 1937 W. B. Yeats Vision 178 A sinking-in of the body upon its supersensual life.

    c. A lowering or drooping of the spirits, etc.

1663 Spencer Prodigies (1665) 326 Those horrors and sinking of spirit in bad men. 1829 Scott in Croker Papers 30 Jan., Johnson, however indulgent to his own sinkings of the spirits. 1851 Jerrold St. Giles xvi. 168 St. Giles, with a sinking of the heart, passed on. 1888 Times (weekly ed.) 23 Jan. 13/2, I felt a sinking at my heart, lest..I should find myself unable to go any further.

    d. Decline or diminution of vital power.

1730 Bailey (fol.), Arythmos, a Sinking and Failure of the Pulse, so as it can be no longer felt. a 1776 James Diss. Fevers (1778) 125 That kind of sensation which patients describe by a sinking. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 169 We may, by too free a detraction of blood, produce a sudden sinking of the powers of life. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. ix. 101 Coldness of the extremities and sinking of the pulse. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 146 In this form of neurasthenia, pains, sinkings and acidities of the stomach are frequent.

    e. Painting. A dull matt spot on the surface of an oil painting caused by the absorption of the pigments by the ground; the process by which the pigments sink into or become absorbed by the ground. Also sinking-in.

1915 P. Young tr. Vibert's Science Painting ix. 118 Where, in the execution of a picture on account of repeated re-touching, embus or sinkings appear, it is possible..to make them disappear with a light scumbling of re-touching varnish. 1939 H. Hubbard Materia Pictoria 231 The chief causes of sinking-in are: (A) The porousness of the Painting-ground or Priming [etc.]. 1951 R. Mayer Artist's Handbk. Materials & Techniques xii. 433 Embu, (French), in an oil painting, a dull spot in an otherwise glossy surface, caused by a sinking-in of the oil color. 1971 B. Dorf Beginner's Guide to Painting in Oils xiii. 158 Sinking, dull patches in oil paint, caused by too absorbent ground, wrong medium, or too much dilutant.

    f. Also attrib., as sinking feeling.

1890 H. G. Hutchinson Golf (Badm. Libr.) ix. 246 The nerves and muscles must be fed for the work before them; otherwise there will ensue a dreadful sinking feeling before the end of the round. 1920 Poster, Bovril..Prevents that sinking feeling. 1920 C. A. W. Monckton Some Experiences of New Guinea Resident Magistrate xxv. 302 ‘Do you feel devilish hungry half an hour before meals?’..‘Yes,..sometimes so hungry that I have a sinking feeling.’ 1937 Discovery Oct. 295/1 The slight sinking feeling experienced by pedestrian members.., when faced by the considerable uphill trudge. 1961 W. Buchan Helen All Alone 196, I just have a sinking feeling. 1979 L. Meyer Fake Front xiii. 108, I got that nasty sinking feeling again. We..couldn't get the story into the paper.

    2. a. The action of the vb. in transitive senses.
    sinking and drawing, a method of angling, in which the hook is allowed to sink and then gently drawn up again. Also called the ‘sink-and-draw’ style, principle, etc.

1605 Camden Rem., Epitaphs (1623) 322 His conquering of Cyprus, the sinking of the great Galleasse of the Saracens. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xv. ¶1 When I come to the sinking and justifying of Matrices. 1705 J. Blair in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 150 Some proposing the cancelling of the said Aspersions, other, the sinking of the whole paper. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rur. Sports i. v. iii. 251/2 Chub-Fishing... Sinking and drawing is therefore practised, because by this mode the line is not so likely to be entangled. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 223 Though rotary presses at {pstlg}7,000 apiece require a somewhat alarming sinking of capital.

    b. The process or act of boring or excavating downwards in search of coal, etc.; the pit or shaft thus formed.

1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 11 The Earth, Minerals and Water, that may be met with in our way of Sinking. 1802 Playfair Illustr. Huttonian Th. 294 The sinking of perpendicular shafts. 1839 Murchison Silurian Syst. i. ii. 22, I..learned that sinkings in search of coal had been prosecuted..in the district. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right (1899) 16/2 Our party consists of four, which is much the most common number, particularly where the sinking is deepish.

    3. A depression, or the amount of this; a recess or worked hollow.

1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 27 Niches cut for Figures, and two Sinkings for Shells and Buffets of Water. Ibid. 137 The Depth or Sinking you would give the Bowling-green. 1797 T. Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. II. xxxviii. 27 The sinking under the stage is of a great depth. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 615 A beech mould is next made..of the profile of the intended cornice,..with the quirks, or small sinkings, of brass or copper. 1863 Archaeol. Cant. V. 16 One piece with chamfered sinkings, probably a piece of Norman moulding. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. (1894) III. 176/2 A dovetail sinking is cut on the upper surface of the stones at the ends.

    4. Special comb.: sinking speed, the vertical downward component of the velocity of a gliding body.

1930 V. W. Pagé Henley's ABC of Gliding & Sailflying (1931) ii. 40 The falling or sinking speed depends on the weight of the glider loaded and the skill of the pilot in manipulating the controls. 1953 New Biol. XIV. 72 One requirement of a bird which is to soar in upcurrents is that it should have a low ‘sinking speed’; that is to say, it must lose height slowly when gliding in still air. 1973 Sci. Amer. Dec. 102/2 If the air through which the bird is flying happens to be rising at a speed greater than the sinking speed, the bird is carried up with it and acquires potential energy it can use later to glide through air that is not rising.

▪ II. ˈsinking, ppl. a.
    [f. sink v. + -ing².]
    † 1. a. Of ground: Soft, yielding. a sinking sand, a quicksand. Obs. rare.

1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 148 Thair schippis..drevin vpoun the land, Quhair tha war ebbit on ane sinkand sand. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 97 The splitting Rockes cowr'd in the sinking sands. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Slough,..a deep, sinking, mudy place.

    † b. Of paper: Allowing ink to spread. Obs.

1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomencl. 5/2 Papier qui passe, blotting or sinking paper. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 273 A writer purposing to write well,..doth sometimes come short of his intent, if he meeteth with sinking and blotting paper. 1665 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1669) 393/2 By thy religious duties thou settest a fair copie, O do not write it in sinking paper. 1772 Gentl. Mag. XLII. 192 Will any paper match him?—Yes, throughout He's a true Sinking Paper, past all doubt. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 83 You must take a paper that will bear ink very well for this use, for a sinking paper will separate with the wet, and spoil all.

    2. That sinks, in senses of the intransitive verb.

1676 Dryden Aurengz. i. i, As Seas and Winds to sinking Mariners. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiii. 95 At once they bend,..And leave the sinking hills, and less'ning shores. 1746 Hervey Medit. (1818) 35 Her hands..sometimes stay the sinking head on her gentle arms. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam i. 179 Like a great ship in the sun's sinking sphere Beheld afar at sea. 1863 Ld. Lytton Ring of Amasis i. i. ix, He is within but a few arm-lengths of the sinking child. 1897 Watts-Dunton Aylwin i. iii, I can see the rim of the sinking sun burning fiery red low down between the trees.

fig. 1704 Prior Celia to Damon 88 Another Nymph with fatal Pow'r may rise To damp the sinking Beams of Celia's Eyes. 1740 Wesley ‘Jesus, the all-restoring Word’ ii, Quicken my soul,..My sinking footsteps stay.

    b. Lapsing into ruin or decay; failing, losing; declining, decadent.

1693 Bowles in Dryden Juvenal v. (1697) 103 No Man expects..what Piso us'd to send, To raise, or to support a sinking Friend. 1703 Rowe Ulysses iii. i, Save the sinking House of thy Ulysses. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. (1787) III. 67 Amidst the misfortunes and terrors of a sinking nation. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. ii, In the civil war of 1689, he had espoused the sinking side. 1821 Shelley Hellas 459 Live! oh live! outlive Me and this sinking empire.

    c. Of the heart, spirits, health, etc.: Drooping, flagging.

1820 Scott Monast. xxi, The hope of which issue has cheered the sinking heart of many a duellist. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xvii. 325 Their appearance..roused..the sinking spirit of the army. 1879 Froude Cæsar xiv. 212 [They] cowered in their tents with sinking hearts,..and composed last messages for their friends.

    3. Special uses: sinking-chain, part of the apparatus of a pit-shaft boring-rod; sinking-fire, heart-burn, -jar (see quots.); † sinking-lead, a sounding-lead; sinking stage (see quot.).

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 994 The beam centered at c, having an arc-head and martingale *sinking-chain.

1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Sinking-fire, a forge in which wrought-iron scrap or refined pig-iron is partially melted or welded together by means of a charcoal-fire and a blast.

1822–7 Good Study Med. I. 163 Cardialgia..syncoptica, *Sinking heart-burn. The pain or uneasiness extending to the pit of the stomach; with..failure of strength, and great tendency to faint.

1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 24/2 After due agitation of the wash three samples should be taken by the dipping cylinder, or *sinking-jar.

1648 Hexham ii, Een Zinck-loot, a *Sinking-lead or Plummet to sound the depth of water.

1841 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. IV. 430/1 The stage,..including a considerable portion formed to rise or fall by suitable machinery, and called the *sinking stage.

Oxford English Dictionary