▪ I. severing, vbl. n.
(ˈsɛvərɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb sever; an instance of this.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. vii. 17 Fro the daȝes of the seueryng of Effraym fro Juda. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. x. (S.T.S.) I. 59 Afore þe seuering [v.r. syvering] of þare armyis. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 349 ¶7 The severing of his Head from his Body. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude ix. 271 In memory of the farewells of that time, Domestic severings. 1807 ― Ode Intim. Immortality 192 And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves, Forebode not any severing of our loves! |
† b. concr. A division, partition, separated part.
| c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xiii. (1907) 83 Thei had no grete hous but a litel in the whiche thei hadde thre seuerynges as it were thre smale chambres there specially to praye and to slepe. |
▪ II. ˈsevering, ppl. a.
[-ing2.]
That severs.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 8 Looke Loue what enuious streakes Do lace the seuering Cloudes in yonder East. a 1635 Sibbes Confer. Christ & Mary (1656) 92 That spirit of God..is a severing spirit. 1793 Wordsw. Descr. Sk. 310 Th' insuperable rocks and severing tide. 1836 J. H. Newman in Lyra Apostol. (1891) 217 Thou shrinkest now From urgent rule, and severing vow. 1888 Meredith Night frost in May Poems 1898 II. 238 In this shrill hush of quietude, The ear conceived a severing cry. |
Hence ˈseveringly adv.
| a 1390 Wyclif Isa. Jerome's Prol., And off euer either rewme, now togidere, now seuerendely [Vulg. nunc commistim, nunc separatim], he ordeynede the profecie. |