▪ I. yielding, vbl. n.
(ˈjiːldɪŋ)
[f. yield v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb yield.
† 1. Payment; transf. obligation to pay, debt.
| 1340 Ayenb. 115 Ich am mochel ine dette ayen þe..and..ich ne habbe huer-of maki þe yeldinge. Ibid. 262 Uorlet ous oure yeldinges, ase and we uorleteþ oure yelderes. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 423 Þis is..but ȝilding of dette bi mannus lawe. |
2. The giving of something as due, or as a favour; rendering; bestowal.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7846 Yheldyng of mede for ilk gud dede. 1382 Wyclif Ps. cii[i]. 2 And wile thou not forȝete alle the ȝeldingus of hym. |
† 3. Repayment, reward, recompense, retribution.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xciii[i]. 2 Ȝelde ȝeldynge til proude. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lxvi. 6 Vois of the Lord ȝeldende ȝelding to his enemys. 1382 ― Luke iv. 19 He sente me..to preche the ȝeer of the Lord plesaunt, and the day of ȝeldynge. 1388 ― Ps. cxxx. 3 [cxxxi. 2] As a child wenyde on his modir, so ȝelding be in my soule. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 537/1 Ȝeldynge, reddicio. 1530 Palsgr. 291/1 Yeldeng, retribution. |
4. Production of crops or the like; produce.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 598 Wel wiste he by the droghte and by the reyn The yeldynge of his seed and of his greyn. 1547–8 in E. Green Somerset Chantries (1888) 32 A tenement in Pytmyster..the yelding wherof John Forde..solde unto William Voysey..for xij. li. sterling. 1903 Smart Set IX. 127/2 Speculating as to the profit of this year's yielding. 1922 W. Schlich Man. Forestry (ed. 4) I. 97 Timber fit for sawing would begin to be cut about 10 to 15 years later, and by the eightieth year the forests should be in full yielding. |
5. a. Giving up, giving in, surrender, submission.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxv. 3833 Syn of þe ȝeldyn [v.r. ȝelding] tretyt þai, Þat gif þai be a certane day War noucht reskewit..Þai sulde gif vp þe towne. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 837 ‘Ȝarne efter ȝ eilding,’ on ilk syde thay call. 1544 in Leadam Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (Selden Soc.) 112 To make an yeldynge yf she lyst..by the deliueryng of a mote to any of the seyd tenauntes to the vse of them whom shall please her. 1568 Grafton Chron. I. 427 Eche part with an hundred Knightes and Esquiers,..to fight and combate to the yeldyng. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus R iv, But this, nor anye thinge coulde enforce him to relinquish his suite, sauing the yelding of her battered brest. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. ii. 25 What merit's in that reason which denies The yeelding of her vp? 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 769 At the battaile, and yeelding vp of Mont de dier. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. II. 214 A Sacrifice and mutual yielding of Natures one to another. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 411 She..breath'd a sister's sorrow to persuade A yielding up. 1885 Athenæum 17 Oct. 499/2 More or less cowardly yieldings to panic and sedition. |
b. Giving way, as to persuasion or the like; compliance, concession, consent.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 118 How well this yeelding rescues thee from shame. 1592 ― Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 105 Therefore pardon me, And not impute this yeelding to light Loue. 1611 Bible Eccl. x. 4 Yeelding pacifieth great offences. 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 108 Their bare presence argues their approbation and yielding in show to ceremonies. a 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §22 (1702) I. 12 His Yeilding to the violent passion. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones iv. vi, He..imputed her yielding, to the ungovernable force of her love towards him. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xv, I can see no limit to the yielding, and bending of his mind when it is worked upon by the idea of power. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. II. vii. 130 Nothing was to be gained by yielding in minor points. |
6. Giving way, as to pressure or other physical force. Cf. yield v. 20.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 41 It is..shrunk,..which is caused by the yielding a little of the hardened Skin to a Contraction. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ¶7 The softness or yielding of the Paper, Tympan, and Blankets. 1688 Boyle Final Causes iv. 176 The Yielding of the Flexible Branch or Twigs whereto the Nest is fastened. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 10 There will be a gradual yielding of its mass under the pressure. 1899 J. A. Ewing Strength of Materials iii. 31 There is..a well-marked yield point..at which extension goes on for a time through a considerable distance without increase of load. After this the extension becomes less rapid until the final yielding occurs just before rupture. 1961 Lubahn & Felgar Plasticity & Creep in Metals v. 104 When a piece of metal is loaded in such a way that the elastic stress is non-uniform,..yielding begins at the most highly stressed point. 1973 C. R. Barrett et al. Princ. Engin. Materials viii. 257 The yielding usually starts at a small notch or irregularity in the sample and subsequently propagates throughout the sample. |
▪ II. ˈyielding, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That yields, in various senses.
† 1. Owing, indebted: cf. yielder 1, yielding vbl. n. 1. Obs. rare.
| 1340 Ayenb. 169 Asemoche ase he is worþ betere þanne ich, zuo moche ich am yeldinde be riȝte riȝtuolnesse. |
2. Bearing produce, productive, fertile. ? Obs.
| 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices i. (1556) 59 b, Nothing is better than groundtilth and trimmyng, nothing yeeldinger, nothing sweeter, nothing meeter for a freeborne man. 1598 Yong Diana 441 The fertilitie of the yeelding soyle. 1777 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 45 note, In a yielding Year, a Jag of equal size to those alluded to will afford from two Quarters to twenty Bushels of Wheat. 1849 C. Lanman Lett. Alleghany Mts. xx. 159 The yielding wells are somewhat over two hundred feet deep. |
3. Giving in, surrendering, submitting; disposed to submit, submissive, compliant, unresisting.
| 1578 H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 44 As the Hunter who pleasureth not to take the yelding pray, thou shunnest me. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. v, I am eas'ly yeelding to any good Impressions. 1698 [Ferguson] View Ecclesiastick 5 To become Guilty of the Little and mean Vanity of Attacking a yielding as well as a Routed Enemy. 1741–2 Gray Agrippina 197 With fond reluctance, yielding modesty. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xi. iii, Sophia, who was yielding to an excess,..at last gave way. 1801 Scott Glenfinlas xvii, Fair woman's yielding kiss. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 75 You may press her yielding hand. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxv, There are yielding moments in the lives of the sternest and harshest men. |
4. Giving way to pressure or other physical force; not stiff or rigid; taking impression, bending, collapsing, etc.
| 1577 T. Kendall Flowers Epigr. 42 Can Flint or Marble harde be made, as yeldyng Butter softe? 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. xi. 25 A thunder bolt Perceth the yielding ayre. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. iii. 618 Neither can the hard⁓hearted Rockes breake these yeelding Vessells. 1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. 313 By some fall upon yeelding or slippery ground. 1697 Dryden æneis ii. 66 His forceful Spear..Pierc'd through the yielding Planks of jointed Wood. a 1732 T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 132 The cannon ball breaks down a stone wall, while the yielding packs of wool take away its force. 1827 Keble Chr. Y., Prayers at Sea, Beneath the shadowy clouds The yielding waters darken in the breeze. 1890 Retrospect Med. CII. 258 The shafts of all the long bones being so soft and yielding that the mere weight of the limbs is sufficient to produce their distortion. |
Hence ˈyieldingly adv., ˈyieldingness (see senses 3 and 4 above).
| 1560 A. L. tr. Calvin's Four Serm. Song Ezech. (1574) Ep., You see him sometyme *yeldingly stretch out, sometyme struglingly throw his weakend legges. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xlii. 28 As Mayds that know themselues belou'd and yeeldingly resist. 1823 Moore Loves of Angels Introd. 53 A Spirit of light mould, that took The prints of earth most yieldingly. 1862 Lytton Str. Story lxxxvi, Like the clouds that are yieldingly pierced by the light of the evening star. |
| 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 282 This readinesse and *yeeldingnesse of the inward man. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Women (1767) II. xiii. 222 A degree of complacence, yieldingness, and sweetness, beyond what we look for in men. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. viii. 124 The yieldingness of the cartilaginous substance. 1838 Lytton Alice viii. vi, Evelyn was gentle, even to yieldingness. 1880 J. E. Burton Handbk. Midwives 227 The thinness and yieldingness of the bones. |