ˈmorsing, vbl. n. Sc. Obs. exc. Hist.
Also corruptly 7 mosine; (in Comb.) 8–9 motion-, 9 moshin-.
[f. mors v. + -ing1.]
The action of priming (a gun). In quot. concr., priming-powder, priming.
| 1629 Z. Boyd Last Battell I. 374 They..cry, Peace, peace, euen while God is putting the fierie lunt into the mosine of their sudden destruction. |
b. attrib. as morsing-horn, morsing-powder; morsing-hole, touch-hole.
| 1552 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 131 Hagbutteris, furnischit with powldir flask, morsing hornis, and all uthair geir. 1568 Satir. P. Reform. xlvii. 54 Ȝe want ȝo{supr} morsing powder. 1789 Davidson Seasons 26 An', frae the flake..He whips the carabine.—The motion-hole Frae rust unspik'd..Adown the bank he hastens. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iv. xviii, Buff coats, all frounc'd and 'broidered o'er, And morsing-horns and scarfs they wore. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Moshin-hole, the touch-hole of a piece of ordnance; ‘pike the moshin-hole’..means, to clean out the touch-hole. 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch xii, The piker for clearing the motion-hole. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 485 Morsing powder, an old term for priming powder. |