▪ I. kerning, vbl. n.1
(ˈkɜːnɪŋ)
[f. kern v.1 + -ing1.]
The processs of forming into grains; seeding; granulation. Also attrib., as kerning-period, kerning-season, kerning-time; kerning-ground (see quot. 1732).
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 135 The greater Trees, in their blossoming and kerning-time. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 43 The Indians whose business..is to gather the Salt thus into Heaps, wait here by turns all the Kerning Season. 1732 W. Ellis Pract. Farmer Gloss., Kerning ground is that which, drest well, will produce a great quantity of corn, as gravel does. 1744–50 ― Mod. Husbandm. I. i. 47 A better kerning of the blossoms. 1894 Agric. Gaz. 16 July, The kerning period has been so favourable that there is every reason to expect a good yield in proportion to straw. |
▪ II. kerning, vbl. n.2
(ˈkɜːnɪŋ)
[f. kern v.2 + -ing1.]
The operation of making kerns on type; the making of kerned letters. Also attrib. as kerning-knife, -stick, tools used in kerning letters.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xix. ¶5 This Kerning-stick is somewhat more than an Handful long... He also provides a Kerning-knife. 1788 Chambers's Cycl. s.v. Foundery, These..are scraped on the broad-sides with a knife or file... This operation is called kerning. 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. 22 The kerning of letters, it must be owned, may serve many good purposes. |