▪ I. feeding, vbl. n.
(ˈfiːdɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. feed, in its various senses.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. v. 42 Sio feding ðara sceapa. c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 39 Þe fyrst ys a bodly fedyng. 14.. Epiph. in Tundale's Vis. 120 Thys day is named Phagyphanye..For thys word phagy..Is seyd of fedyng. c 1475 Babees Bk. (1868) 7 In youre fedynge luke goodly yee be sene. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 137 Pamperyng..our bodyes by..moche fedyng of delycate meates and drynkes. 1676 Ray Corr. (1848) 122 Skill in the feeding..of singing-birds. 1725 Sloane Jamaica II. 285 According to its feeding on venemous or not venemous food, 'tis wholesome or poysonous. 1803 Davy in Phil. Trans. XCIII. 272 The feeding of leather in the slow method of tanning. 1837 Dickens Pickw. viii, There was not a gleam of..anything but feeding in his whole visage. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such i. 15 A feeding up into monstrosity. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 404/2 Many aver that..Alan Rotherham was the first to reduce the art of feeding to a science. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions ii. i. 253 This feeding I'm talking about..is a name in the profession for working up to gags. |
2. a. concr. That which is eaten; food. Now
rare.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (1495) 736 Some beestys gadre store of mete and fedynge. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 152/2 Fedynge, or fode, pastum. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 3 Beoffe, mutton, porke, and veale..is the common feedyng of..poore persons. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxvii. (1887) 148 Will ye let the fry encrease, where the feeding failes? 1653 Walton Angler 148 His [the Pike's] feeding is usually fish or frogs. 1866 Handy Horse Bk. 20 So should the horses feeding be augmented by one-third..more than usual. |
† b. to take feeding (of): to feed (upon). In
quot. fig.| c 1500 Melusine 298 Her of whom myn eyen toke theire fedyng. |
† c. Nourishment, sustenance.
Obs.| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health Pref. 4 Consider if..the sickenes in the exterial partes have any fedynge from the interial partes. |
3. Grazing-ground or pasture land; pasturage, feeding-ground.
Obs. exc. dial.| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cix. (1869) 116 He..ouer⁓throweth here feedinges [pasturaux]. 1467 Bury Wills (1850) 47 Alle the landys, medewes, pasturys, and fedyngys callyd Southwode. 1554–5 Act 2–3 Phil. & Mary c. 3 Lands or feedings, apt for milch kine. 1627 Speed England iii. §4 Kent..in some things hath the best esteeme: as in..feedings for Cattell. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 31 The Spring and Autumn feeding, whereon six or eight Cattle usually grazed. 1768 Boswell Corsica i. (ed. 2) 40 Sheep..have fine feeding. 1840 Spurdens Suppl. Voc. E. Anglia s.v., ‘You turned your horse into my feeding.’ |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
feeding-barley,
feeding-cake,
feeding-cock,
feeding-ground,
feeding-habit,
feeding-hole,
feeding-house,
feeding-land,
feeding-linseed,
feeding-machine,
feeding-metal,
feeding-pipe,
feeding-place,
feeding-room,
feeding-stuff,
feeding-trough,
feeding-vessel,
feeding-work.
| 1884 York Herald 19 Aug. 7/2 *Feeding foreign barley. |
| 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 511/1 *Feeding cakes, pulse, and other..feeding stuffs. |
| 1827 Farey Steam Engine, 369 Regulate the *feeding cocks..so as to give the requisite supply. |
| 1847 Marryat Childr. N. Forest xiv, It is all good *feeding-ground. |
| 1933 Brit. Birds XXVII. 4 Until something exact is known of its distribution and numbers no correct interpretation of its *feeding-habits can be made. 1959 E. F. Linssen Beetles Brit. Is. I. 55 The effect of feeding-habits—environment and type of food—on larvae. |
| 1868 F. H. Joynson Metals 71 In this country the *feeding hole of the furnace is generally closed. 1901 Feilden's Mag. IV. 436/2 With a steeper inclination..to a ‘feeding-hole’ for the admission of refuse from the platform above. |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1831) 87 A gentleman..is judiciously distributing his *feeding-houses..over all the highest parts of his farms. 1873 Tegetmeier Poultry Bk. xxix. 370 Supply a bed of clean straw in the feeding-house. |
| 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., *Feeding land, grazing land. |
| 1887 Daily News 28 June 2/5 Not much business passing in *feeding linseed. |
| 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 142 *Hand-feeding machines. |
| 1891 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. Terms 136 The *feeding metal is..supplied in small quantities. |
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 52 Just behind the Share and *Feeding-pipe. |
| 1611 Bible Nahum ii. 11 Where is..the *feeding place of the yong Lions? 1907 North Amer. Rev. CLXXXVI. 18 Another cheap feeding-place—the ‘Miners' Restaurant’. |
| 1910 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 614/1, I was wet, miserable, and tired, so I passed into the common *feeding-room. |
| 1883 *Feeding-stuffs [see feeding-cake]. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 403 The flax is fed or supplied in handsfull on the *feeding-trough. 1867 ‘T. Lackland’ Homespun ii. 170 It will pay you well to feed your beast..in the feeding-trough under the shed. 1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 227 Corrals and feeding-troughs. |
| 1859 Luard in Archæol. Cant. II. 8 *Feeding-vessels for the chickens. |
| 1682 Hickeringill Black Non-Conformist Wks. (1716) ii. 144 This necessary *feeding-work of a good Shepherd. |
b. Special comb., as
feeding board = feed-board (
feed n. 7);
feeding-bottle, a glass bottle for supplying artificial food to infants; also
attrib. in figurative sense;
feeding-box, (
a) a compartment in which a horse is placed to be fed; (
b) in
hot air feeding-box, an appliance for ‘feeding’ hot air to a stove;
feeding-cloth = feedcloth;
feeding-cup (see
quot.);
feeding-drum, a drum used for feeding certain kinds of furnaces;
feeding-engine,
-head,
-needle (see
quots.);
feeding-piece, grazing ground;
feeding-rod, a small metal rod used for keeping an open passage in a casting during the process of feeding;
† feeding-stead, a pasture;
feeding-time, (
a) a time for taking food; meal-time; (
b)
dial. genial or growing weather (for crops); (
c) the time at which animals in captivity are fed (recent examples of sense (a) usually have
joc. allusion to (c));
feeding-trace, a track showing where animals have obtained food;
feeding-tube (see
quot.).
| 1892 J. Southward Princ. & Progress Printing Machinery v. 29 The *feeding board, at first, consisted of merely a board like a desk, attached to the upper part of the machine. 1919 C. T. Jacobi Printing xxix. 301 To perform this correctly the second side in printing should be laid to the reverse end of the feeding-board. 1951 S. Jennett Making of Books (1964) vii. 99 At the front of the machine is the feeding board, a large wooden surface sloping gently down towards the base of the cylinder. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade 149/2 *Feeding-bottle. 1884 St. James' Gaz. 2 Feb. 3/1 Napoleon foresaw the results of this feeding-bottle policy. 1887 Hackney Gaz. 9 Feb. 2/7 Fitting up infant's feeding-bottles. |
| 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 511/1 When the manure is made in *feeding-boxes. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 65/1 Grates..with..hot air feeding box. 1821 Specif. of Barker & Harris's Patent No. 4574. 4 The material [fur] to be cleared being taken off the feeding cloth or endless web. |
| 1882 J. W. Anderson Med. Nursing iv. (1883) 73 See that the *feeding cup and all vessels used for food are kept clean. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Feeding-cup, a vessel with a spout for the feeding of a sick person whilst lying down. Also, an oblong shallow vessel with a tubular end, to which a teat can be affixed for the artificial feeding of young children. |
| 1854 Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 151 As each scraper comes in turn under the *feeding-drum, the coal which has fallen between each of them will be carried forward. |
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 830/1 *Feeding engine, a supplementary engine for feeding the boiler, when the main engine is stopped. |
| Ibid., *Feeding-head (Founding), an opening in a mould..which supplies metal as the casting contracts. |
| 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic xi. (1833) 289 A *feeding-needle [in the tambouring machine] which by a circular motion round the working-needle, lodged upon the stem of the latter the loop of the thread. |
| 1796 W. Marshall Midland Counties Gloss, *Feeding-piece. |
| 1892 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. Terms 136 *Feeding-rod. |
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 600 Pascua, a *ffedyngstede. |
| 1832 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. I. 77/1 He had some reason to believe the Lion of the North..was best worth seeing at *feeding time. 1844 S. Bamford Pass. Life Radical v. 27 A howl as wild and remorseless as that from a kennel of hounds at feeding time. 1844 Lady Stanley Let. 8 Dec. in N. Mitford Ladies of Alderley (1938) 105 It is the very large family altogether & especially feeding time that is oppressive. 1887 S. Cheshire Gloss., ‘It's a rare feedin' time for th' turmits.’ 1888 Illust. Lond. News Christmas No. 11/1 A bell rang. There's feeding-time, we'd best go down. 1961 A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo i. 10, I had become quite deaf to the customary loud orchestra of a whole Zoo... I registered the feeding times only subliminally. |
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. iii. 38 The numerous *feeding-traces [of rabbits] among the rocks. |
| 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Feeding tube, an elastic tube..which is passed into the stomach. |
▪ II. feeding, ppl. a. (
ˈfiːdɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.] That feeds.
† 1. That nourishes; nutritious.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. ix. (1495) 37 This one mete..very fedynge is founden. 1651 in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 101 It [Lucern] is much more feeding than any other Hay. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 136 A fat, rich, deep, moist, and feeding soil. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 422 The feedingest ground makes the toughest timber. 1877 Holderness Gloss. s.v., ‘Whotmeeal's a varry feedin thing.’ |
2. a. That is taking food; of an animal: Grazing.
| 1824 H. Davy Diary July (1836) v. 213 The Danes and Holsteiners appear to be rather fat headed, and a feeding and smoking people. a 1861 Clough Poems, Ite Domum Saturæ 22 Doth he sometimes in his slumbering see The feeding kine. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S.C. 275 A feeding flock. 1888 Daily News 7 Sept. 5/2 Feeding trout generally keep within casting distance from the shore. |
b. transf. Of a gale or storm: That increases gradually in violence, or in its effects. Sometimes hyphened. Also
fig.| 1641 R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1846) I. 352 This is a feeding storme. 1819 Caled. Mercury 30 Dec. (Jam.), We had a pretty copious fall of snow. At one time everything seemed to portend what is called a feeding-storm. 1826 Scott Jrnl. (1890) I. 76 This seems to be a feeding storm, coming on little by little. 1828 Craven Dial., Feeding-storm, a continuance or succession of snow, daily feeding or adding to what is already on the ground. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 291 Feeding-gale. |
† 3. That eats away; corrosive.
Obs. rare.
| 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 221 It cures feeding and malignant Ulcers. |
4. That keeps up the supply (of a river, machine, etc.).
| 1833 N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 106 The feeding snows are more abundantly dissolved. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 154 Cardings introduced in pairs at the feeding rollers. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 291 Feeding-part of a tackle, that running through the sheaves, in opposition to the standing part. |