▪ I. sowing, vbl. n.1
(ˈsəʊɪŋ)
[f. sow v.1]
1. The action of scattering seed.
| 13.. Cursor M. 6378 (Gött.), Moyses..fand þaim fode in þair nede, widuten sauing of ani sede. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 102, ‘I schal sese of my sowynge,’ quod pers, ‘and swynke not so harde’. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 466 Sowynge, of corne and oþer sedys, sacio,..seminacio. 1473 Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 164 In sauyng of quhet, pess, ry and benys. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §14 Whether it be for the vnseasonablenes of the wether, or for thyn sowynge. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxxii. 154 b, The sowing of corne was brought in..by Triptolemus. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Travels 183 The Ananas..growes nor from Tree nor sowing, but of a root. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 319 Nor cease your sowing till Mid-winter ends. 1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. to People 310 He should attend the culture of the lands, the sowing and harvest. 1841 Browning Pippa Passes Poems (1905) 185 June reared that bunch of flowers you carry, From seeds of April's sowing. 1896 Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign viii, The rebels..are getting tired of war, as it prevents the sowing of next year's crop. |
b. In figurative or transf. use.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxii. (Justin) 337 Woman..suld man haf hyre make to be, for þe sawyng of þare sede. c 1440 Jacob's Well 83 Jn þis cornere of wose in þe mowth is sowyng of dyscorde. 1529 More Dyalogue Pref. A j b, The soweynge & settyng forth of Luthers pestilent heresies in this realme. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 538 By sowing of strange doctrine. |
2. An instance or occasion of this.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. 42 The grounde must out of hand be plowed..to make it the meeter for the next sowyng. 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 201 The Seeds of the first sowing are generally three Weeks coming up. 1763 Mills Pract. Husb. II. 251 On the eleventh of August I suspended the sowings. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 521 By successive sowings in the open air and on heat. 1899 Speaker 25 Nov. 191/2 There can be no cold weather sowings. |
| fig. and transf. 1643 J. Caryl Expos. Job I. 287 There is a sowing, which is the work of charity. 1844 Thirlwall Greece lxiv. VIII. 320 So ended the Macedonian war; with a plentiful sowing of the dragon's teeth. |
3. That which is sown; the quantity of seed sown at one time.
Not always clearly distinct from sense 2.
| 1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 257 The Salts of the first..are most agreeable to such late Sowings. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 334 The earlier sowings are cut off by the frost. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 656 These sowings will come into use in November. 1888 Cent. Mag. Oct. 815/1 You could not keep the birds out of the garden... They had most of the sowings up. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as sowing-harvest, sowing-season, sowing-time, etc.
| 1382 Wyclif Lev. xxvi. 5 The vyndage shal occupie the sowynge tyme. 1532 G. Hervet Xenoph. Househ. 50 b, Whanne..a man hath chosen his sowynge tyme. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 23 b, To..prepare it for the sowing season. c 1613 Social Cond. People Anglesey (1860) 17 The men go in sowing harvest abroad to begg graine and seed. 1681 Rector's Bk. Clayworth (1910) 52 Barley found dry in 3 Fields, having lain so, ever since sowing time. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 154 They used not generally to buy their seed-barley, nor seed-oats, but just before sowing-time. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 639 March or April is the sowing season. |
b. With the names of seed, in the sense ‘suitable or used for sowing’, as sowing mustard, sowing seed, sowing peas. Hence Comm. in sowing orders, sowing requirements.
| 1604–5 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 160 Towe mettes of sowinge pesen iiijs x{supd}. 1611 Bible Lev. xi. 37 Any sowing seed which is to be sowen. 1648 Hexham ii, Zaet-goedt, Sowing Seed. 1883 Daily News 6 Sept. 2/7 There is a good inquiry for sowing mustard. 1893 Ibid. 4 May 7/2 Numerous sowing orders still come to hand. |
c. With the names of implements, etc., used in sowing, as sowing-gear, sowing-machine, sowing-plough, sowing-sheet,
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 78 A wheat two-wheeled sowing⁓plough. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 323 The seed to be deposited by a sowing-machine. 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 278 The idea..was followed up..in the sowing⁓barrow, an instrument still extensively used for sowing grass⁓seeds. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 507 The most convenient form of sowing-sheet. Ibid. 535 The sowing-geer of the machine. |
▪ II. † sowing, vbl. n.2 Sc. Obs.
[f. sow v.2]
Sharp or severe pain.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 628 Thai that, at the first metyng Of speris, feld so sair sowing. |
▪ III. sowing(e
obs. forms of sewing vbl. n.1