▪ I. strumming, vbl. n.
(ˈstrʌmɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
1. The action of the verb strum.
| 1775 Ash Suppl., Strumming, the act of stringing or tuning in a clumsy manner. 1817 Byron Beppo ii, And there are songs and quavers, roaring, humming, Guitars, and every other sort of strumming. 1825 Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 362 The strumming of an ill-toned piano. 1887 Besant The World went xiii, As for tea, with the strumming of a harpsichord,..I cannot endure it. 1894 Jessopp Random Roam. ii. 75 We provide pianos for elementary schools, and encourage strumming. |
2. Sc. ‘A thrilling sensation, sometimes implying giddiness.’ (Jam.)
| 1822 Hogg Perils of Man II. vii. 234 I'll never forget sic queer strummings as I had within me. Oh, I wad fain hae been at them! There was a kind o' yeuk, a kind o' kittling, a sort o' prinkling in my blood like. |
▪ II. strumming, ppl. a. rare.
(ˈstrʌmɪŋ)
[f. strum v. + -ing2.]
Sounding like a strummed instrument.
| 1887 Hardy Woodlanders III. vii. 140 She fancied that she could hear, above the sound of her strumming pulse, the vehicle. a 1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xxv. 553 As a menace, as a prophecy, the old women and the hunchback and the strumming piano had gone forever. |