▪ I. ˈganging, vbl. n.1 Obs. exc. Sc. and dial.
(ˈgæŋɪŋ)
Also 9 gannin.
[f. gang v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb gang in various senses.
| 1489 Barbour's Bruce xiv. 400 (MS. E.) Quhen the Erle Thomas persawing Had off thair cummyng and thair ganging [C. gaderyng]. 1548 Aberdeen Reg. V. 20 (Jam.) The bailye continevit the ganging of the actioun. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 101 in Satir. Poems Reform. xlv, What fruite come of his ganging thair? 1768 Ross Helenore (1778) 39 Gin ganging winna do't, though I sud creep. |
b. The power of walking.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12260 A commament nu mak i here..at þai sight haf þat ar blind..And ganging þat ar lame o fote. |
c. ganging to: going down, setting (of the sun).
| 1533 Bellenden Livy iii. (1822) 245 He commandit all the young and lusty men..to mete him in Campus Martius afore the son ganging to. 1546 Extracts Aberdeen Reg. (1844) 230 And finaly to gif furth thair decreit and ordinance thairin till that same day or the sone ganging to. |
d. ganging on: a going on, proceeding.
| 1847–78 in Halliwell. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘What kin o' gangings on has there been?’ what kind of doings. ‘A bonny ganging on’, fine to do. |
2. Walking in procession (on gangdays).
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xii. 293 At the whiche time [Ascensiontide] there be made ganginges with the lesse Letanies from one Churche to another, all Christendome ouer. 1849–53 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ix. 222 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Ascension-week were called gang-days, from the custom of ganging, or walking in religious procession. 1895 E. Anglian Gloss. s.v., ‘To go ganging’, to beat the parish bounds. |
3. Comb., as ganging-gown, a travelling cloak; ganging-staff, a walking-stick.
| 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 569 in Satir. Poems Reform. xlv, His sarkis, his schone, his ganging gowne. 1595 Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.) Scipio, a ganging-staff. |
▪ II. ganging, vbl. n.2
(ˈgæŋɪŋ)
[f. gang v.2 + -ing1.]
The combining of work-people into gangs or companies.
| 1865 Pall Mall G. 13 May 2 The corrupting influences of ‘ganging’ are naturally worse where boys and girls are employed together. 1886 Gd. Words 42 If some other system could be devised, which should supersede ganging. |
▪ III. ganging, vbl. n.3
(ˈgændʒɪŋ)
[f. gange v. + -ing1.]
a. ‘The act of fastening a fish-hook to the line’. b. ‘A section or part of a fishing-line to the free end of which a hook is ganged’ (Cent. Dict.). Also Comb. ganging-line, ‘the ganging of a fishing-line, especially when different from the rest of the line’ (Cent. Dict.).
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 195 Spanish gut as imported for the manufacture of leaders; single, double, and twisted gut leaders, minnow gangs, brails, gangings, used in various sea fisheries. |
▪ IV. ganging, ppl. a. Obs. exc. Sc. and dial.
(ˈgæŋɪŋ)
[f. gang v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That goes or walks.
| a 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 1085 He ferde into Engla lande mid swa mycclan here ridendra manna and gangendra. a 1300 Cursor M. 401 Al gangand best þe sext day, And adam bath he wroght on clai. |
| Proverb. c 1300 [see foot n. 2]. ? 1785 Ferguson's Scot. Prov. in Ramsay Remin. v. (1870) 139 A gangang fit is aye gettin (gin it were but a thorn). |
2. That is in operation or in working order.
| [a 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1131 Swa þæt on þa tun þa wæs tenn ploᵹes oðer twelfe gangende ne belæf þær noht an.] 1574 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 93/1 Of euery gangand [salt-]pan thre bollis to be deliuerit oulk[l]ie. a 1724 Johnie Armstrang in Ramsay Ever-Green (1824) II. 192 Gude Four and twenty ganging Mills That gang throw a the Zeir. |
b. ganging-gear, ganging-graith (see quots.); ganging plea, a lawsuit continuing indefinitely.
| 1808–18 Jamieson, Gangin graith, the furniture of a mill which a tenant is bound to uphold. 1816 Scott Antiq. ii, A ganging plea that my father left me, and his father afore left to him. 1847–78 Halliwell, Ganging gear, the machinery of a mill. |