▪ I. sharping, vbl. n.
(ˈʃɑːpɪŋ)
[f. sharp v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb sharp.
1. a. = sharpening vbl. n. in various senses.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. xvii. 874 In olde tyme men vsed to sharpe this colour Minius wyth the blode of a certayne worme:..and for suche sharpyng that red was callyd Vermiculus. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 71/499 Þei..Þat hedden tonges of scharpynge And [? read As] swerd þat kerueþ Mayle. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 33 Late the case be taken for a new lerning, and to the sharping of goode corages. 1575 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 256 For horse showing, sharping of irons, and ale, xj{supd}. 1662 Playford Introd. Skill Mus. i. ii. 9 The Flatting and Sharping of Notes. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. E 2 b, This sort [chirtt] will wear a new Steel'd Pick off, in three or four times Sharping. 1895, 1956 [see flatting vbl. n. 3]. |
b. Comb.: † sharping-corn, an annual grant of corn formerly made to a blacksmith in return for sharpening farm implements; sharping-stone Sc., a whetstone.
| 1681 Rec. Baron Crt. Stitchill (S.H.S.) 89, 15 sheaves of shairping corne. 1714 Lady G. Baillie Househ. Bk. (S.H.S.) 254, 2 sharping stones 3s. 1905 ‘H. Haliburton’ Excurs. i. 9 The Bruce stood aimlessly with his sharping-stone in one hand. |
2. The action of a sharper, swindling, roguery.
| 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxxiv. 33 Cheating and Sharping, one Half of the Year, and Starving, the Other. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. lviii, Sharping and other infamous practises. 1870 W. R. Greg Polit. Probl. 275 Shameless jobbery, cruel swindling and sharping. |
▪ II. sharping, ppl. a.
(ˈʃɑːpɪŋ)
[f. sharp v. + -ing2.]
That acts as a sharper, fraudulent, swindling, cheating, knavish.
| 1691 Dryden K. Arthur Prol. 38 A sharping Sett. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Hedge-Tavern,..a Jilting, Sharping Tavern. 1796 Pegge Anonym. (1809) 47 A sharping attorney. 1829 W. Irving Granada I. xxvi. 237 All wandering minstrels, sharping pedlars,..and other camp trumpery..were drummed out of the gates of Alhama. 1880 W. Hooe (title) Sharping London,..a book for honest people. |