▪ I. blazing, vbl. n.1
(ˈbleɪzɪŋ)
Also 5 blasynge.
[f. blaze v.1 + -ing1.]
a. A flaming, burning. b. Shining, splendour.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Blasynge or flamynge of fyre, flammacio. 1563 Homilies ii. Excess. Appar. (1859) 316 The more thou garnish thy selfe with these outward blazings. 1639 Fuller Holy War i. ii. (1840) 2 A fading comet, whose blazing portended the ruin of that nation. 1859 G. Wilson E. Forbes iv. 99 No needless blazings of phosphorus. |
▪ II. ˈblazing, vbl. n.2
[f. blaze v.2 + -ing1.]
1. a. Proclaiming or ‘trumpeting.’ b. Boasting.
| 1563 Homilies ii. Idolatry (1859) 237 Blasphemous bold blasing of manifest Idolatry. 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurd. 7 The blazing of Womens slender praises. 1628 Feltham Resolves i. lxxx. (1647) 248 The blazings of the proud will goe out in a stench and smoke. |
† 2. = blazoning. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Blasynge of armys, descripcio. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. A j, Folowyth the Blasyng of all maner armys. 1530 Palsgr. 165 Blason, a blasyng or discryvyng of ons armes. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. x. 56 Some painted picture or blasing of armes. |
▪ III. ˈblazing, vbl. n.3
[f. blaze v.3]
The marking of trees by chipping off a patch of the bark.
| 1818 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 273 We soon lost all appearance of the track..and of the ‘blazing’ of the trees. |
▪ IV. ˈblazing, ppl. a.1
In northern ME. blesand; for other forms see the vb.
[f. blaze v.1 + -ing2.]
1. Flaming with force.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 3706 Of brennynge fyre a blasyng bronde. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. ix. 103 The blesand torchys schayn. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 728 Blazing Cressets fed With Naphtha and Asphaltus. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 340 The sight of the blazing dwellings. |
| fig. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xxxiii. 299 She..fixed a glance blazing with rage and scorn on the driver. |
2. a. Shining vehemently; bright-coloured, glaring.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. VI. 297 Gay blasynge cloþes. 1425 Ord. Whittington's Alms-ho. in Entick London IV. 354 That the overcloathing..be dark and brown of colour, and not staring ne blaising. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair i, Horses in blazing harness. 1855 Dickens Dorrit i, A blazing sun upon a fierce August day. |
b. fig.
| 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 134 The fame thereof is..above all other most blasing and glorious. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 8 Her bright blazing beautie. |
3. Venery. Of scent: Very strong; as opposed to a cold scent, i.e. a weak one.
| 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. ii. i. §2. 142 They..can hunt a cold scent, and yet with a blazing one they run breast high. |
4. Used as a substitute for a profane epithet.
| 1888 Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1890) 19 Once I said, ‘What's the blazing hurry, Major?’ 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 66 You have the blazing cheek to keep me lying here in the filthy muck. |
▪ V. ˈblazing, ppl. a.2
[f. blaze v.2 + -ing2.]
† 1. Blowing. Obs.
| 1535 Coverdale Wisdom xvii. 18 Whether it were a blasynge wynde, or a swete song of y⊇ byrdes. |
† b. Boastful (? ‘blowing their own trumpet’).
| 1533 Tindale Answ. to More's Dial. Wks. III. 107 The blasing hypocrites. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 2 Cor. xii. 12 Let them never so muche with their blasyng wordes boaste themselves. |