tackling, vbl. n.
(ˈtæklɪŋ)
Also 5–6 tak(e)lyng, 6 taclyng.
[f. tackle v. + -ing1.]
† 1. a. The furnishing of a vessel with tackle. Obs.
| 1486 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 17 The wages of xxx marriners..for the Rigging and takeling of the same Ship. |
† b. concr. The rigging of a ship; the tackle.
| c 1422 Hoccleve Jereslaus's Wife 914 Our taklynge brast and the ship claf In two. 1526 Tindale Acts xxvii. 19 The thyrde daye we cast out with oure awne hondes the tacklinge [1885 (R.V.) marg. or furniture] of the shippe. 1529 Act 21 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §1 The great Cables, Halsers, Ropes, and all other Tackling..for your Royal Ships. c 1615 Bacon Adv. Sir G. Villiers v. §9 For tackling, as sails and cordage,..we are beholden to our neighbours for them. 1676 Hubbard Happiness of People 12 If the Mast be never so well strengthened, and the Tackline never so well bound together. 1696 London Gaz. No. 3176/1 Abundance of Lanthorns were hung upon the Tackling of the Ships. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) Uu ij b, Unless we adopt the obsolete word Tackling, which is now entirely disused by our mariners. |
| fig. 1601 Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. xvi. K iij b, Graue, wise, sober, temperate men,..meete to bee part of the tacklings of a Commonwealth. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. i. §11 A relation as ill accoutred with tacklings, as their Ship;..unrigged in respect of time, and other circumstances. |
† 2. a. Gear, furnishings, fittings, accoutrements, outfit, baggage, etc.;
= tackle n. 1.
Obs.| 1558 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 86 Takelynges and nayles for the great belle. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. ii, Here's Little John hath harbord you a Deere, I see by his Tackling. a 1659 Lond. Chanticleers ix. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 345 Meet me here two hours hence with all your tacklings. I'll see this bundle shall be safe. 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 120 This sort of country tackling is call'd threshing⁓instruments. 1718 S. Sewall Diary 25 July, I give her two Cases with a knife and fork in each; one Turtle shell tackling; the other long, with Ivory handles. 1749 C. Campbell in Scots Mag. Sept. (1753) 454/2 Remember Lady Ardsheil's discharges, and all your other tackling. 1813 Sir R. Wilson Pr. Diary II. 244 It is necessary that I should feast myself into a little more embonpoint, for otherwise I shall not have sufficient carcase to suspend my tackling upon. |
† b. A horse's harness.
Obs.| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 14 If he wanted money to mend his plow or his Cart, or to buy tacklings for his horses. 1726 Boston News-Let. 14 July, To be sold..two good carts, four good horses, and tackling compleat for the same. 1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen (1809) 45 Let me entreat you to examine your tackling well at setting out..: see that your girths are tight. |
† 3. Arms, weapons, instruments; also
fig.,
esp. in
phr. to stand or stick to one's tackling, to ‘stand to one's guns’, to hold one's ground, to maintain one's position or attitude:
cf. tackle n. 4 b; so
to hold tackling (
cf. to hold tack,
tack n. 11); also
to give over one's tackling, to ‘lay down one's arms’, surrender, give in.
Obs.| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 565/36 Armamentum, takelyng. 1529 More Dyaloge iv. Wks. 278/2 Than would he haue them abide by their tackeling like mighty champions. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 160 b, Perceiuyng the kentishmen, better to stande to their taclyng, then his imagination expected. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 61 b, Thus the aunswerer..maie..force the apposer to giue ouer his tacklyng, without any aduauntage gotten. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 362 Your brother..tolde me..that you haue forsaken your booke... I wishe you to..sticke still to your tackling: and as you haue begonne, so proceede. 1593 in Abp. Bancroft Daung. Posit. iv. iii. 141, I thinke it a great blessing of God, that hath raised vp Martin to hold tackling with the Bishops. a 1635 Corbett Poems (1807) 23 Reader, unto your tackling look, For there is coming forth a book Will spoyl Joseph Barnisius The sale of Rex Platonicus. 1679 Hist. Jetzer 29 An ambition to be accounted and Canonized for a Saint, which by standing stoutly to his tackling he hoped for. |
† 4. Fishing tackle.
Obs.| 1548 Elyot Dict., Alopex marina..a fysshe of the sea, whyche perceyuynge the hooke to bee fastened in his bealy, byteth of the lyne aboue the taklyng, and so escapeth. 1653 Walton Angler 53, I will sit down and mend my tackling. Ibid. 105 Sure, Master, yours is a better Rod, and better Tackling. 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 7 Having..caught a..dish of fish, we put up our tackling. |
5. The action of the
vb. tackle in
mod. senses (in
quots., in sense 5).
| 1893 Daily News 14 Dec. 2/6 Cambridge's tackling stood them in capital defence. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 7/3 A strong Cambridge attack was foiled by the splendid tackling of the Oxford men. |
6. Comb. tackling bag U.S. and
Rugby Football, a stuffed bag suspended and used for practice in tackling;
tackling dummy U.S. Football = tackling bag above;
† tackling-ladder, a rope-ladder.
| 1892 Outing (U.S.) Jan. 279/2 Their one special piece of apparatus is..the tackling bag, and this is..necessary to the indoor practice of a football team. 1978 Rugby World Apr. 25 (Advt.), Order now for 1978–79 pre-season training the new Allander tackling bag. |
| 1904 Outing (U.S.) Dec. 367/2 The tackling dummy was used by many squads. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 51 The Japs looked like bushes, or like tackling dummies in the evening when practice was over. |
| 1680 Otway Caius Marius iii. i, My man shall meet thee there; And bring thee cords made like a tackling-ladder. |