▪ I. ˈspending, n. ? Obs.
[prob. f. spend v.2]
A cross-bar forming part of the bottom of a coal-corf.
| 1797 J. Curr Coal Viewer's Pract. Comp. 16 Flags for the corf bottom, of Oak..; bars or spendings of Oak. Ibid. 19 This plate is nailed under the spending of the corf. |
▪ II. spending, vbl. n.
(ˈspɛndɪŋ)
[f. spend v.1]
1. a. The disbursing, expending, paying out or away of money, etc.; expenditure. † at other spending, at another's expense.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Thorpe) II. 556 Sum underfehþ eorðlice æhta, and se sceal ðæs pundes spendunge Gode aᵹifan of his æhtum. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 280 First he was a kyng, now is he soudioure, & is at oþer spendyng bonden in þe toure. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 197 But owre spences and spendynge sprynge of a trewe wille, Elles is al owre laboure loste. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 67 [Be] Curteys of language, in spendyng mesurable. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xli. 5 Be nocht a wreche, nor skerche in ȝour spending. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxvi. 69 b, Not remembring the trouble of his spirite, neyther yet the spending of his treasure. 1686 tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 90 According to the usual rate of their spending. 1719 Ramsay To Arbuckle 111 My income, management, and spending. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxii, It wasna for his spending,..for he just had a mutton-chop and a mug of ale. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxvi, There was a deal of spending in two thousand pounds. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. v. 297 There was nothing..but..spending of money. |
| transf. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 1511 For whom I had..so gret ado Or I hir gat with spendyng of my blood. |
b. An instance or occasion of this; an amount spent.
| 1617 Rich Irish Hubbub 46, 319375. pounds all spent in smoake, besides priuate spendings. 1666 Pepys Diary 31 Dec., My spendings this year have exceeded my spendings the last, by 644l. |
† 2. a. That which may be expended or spent; means of support; goods, money, cash. Obs. (freq. in the 15th c.).
| a 1290 S. Eustace 209 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 215 Swinken and sweten he moste þo, Wor [= for] his spending wes al at-go. c 1325 Deo Gratias 33 in E.E.P. (1862) 129 Whon .i. hedde spendyng here bifore, Þer wolde no felauschupe founde me fro. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 166 They loste here goode, here mone, and spendynge. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xi. xi. 587 Whanne she was awaked she sente a squyer after them with spendynge ynough. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxi. 13 Lak of spending dois him spur. 1650 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 417 The money furnished him spending till he came to London. |
† b. A supply of some produce or commodity formerly levied by an Irish landlord upon his tenants. Obs. rare.
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 623/2 The which is a common use amongest the Irish landlordes, to have a common spending upon theyr tenauntes. Ibid. 624/1 They..are very loth to yeld any certayne rent, but onely such spendinges. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1747) 179 Irish exactions,..cuttings, tallages, or spendings. |
3. The action of using or employing, of using up or consuming, in later use esp. as food.
| a 1430 Octouian 376 Both thys chylde and thy palfray, Thou most here lete thys ylke day To owre spendyng. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 11 Off the wrang spending of my wittis fyve. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 120 Whome fancie persuadeth..to haue for his spending, sufficient of hops. 1648 Gage West Ind. 133 Others to bring him wood for his house spending. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 77 As for the Fruits that are for the spending both during the End of Autumn, and all the whole Winter. 1709 W. Dampier Voy. III. ii. 24 The Fish or Flesh that they take, besides what serves for present spending, they dry on a Barbacue. 1764 Museum Rust. II. ii. 14 They made excellent pork for family spending. 1850 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. i. 150 The turnip or root land..is ploughed and planted as opportunity offers up to Christmas..; the spending and carting off requiring time. |
4. a. The action or fact of losing, destroying, exhausting, etc.
| c 1595 Capt. Wyatt Dudley's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 54 When wee expected nothing less then..breakinge of shrowdes, spendinge of mastes, springinge of plankes. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence, Heavtontim. Prol., To the spending of my spirits and wasting of my bodie. 1605 Journ. Earl Nottingham in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 540 Had not the hoy..by spending of her mast..caused a longer abode. 1680 Burnet Rochester (1692) 21 He was fully perswaded that Death was not the spending or dissolution of the soul. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 54 Be careful to rub a little dry Earth upon the Wound where you cut them,..to prevent their spending of themselves too much, which these Trees are very subject to do. |
† b. Obs. slang. An orgasm; an ejaculation. Cf. spend v.1 15 c.
| 1856 W. Whitman Leaves of Grass 242 The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn, I shall demand perfect men and women out of my love-spendings. 1879–80 Pearl (1970) 15 She came again in another luscious flood of spendings. |
† 5. Of dogs: The action of giving tongue. Obs.
| 1615 Markham Country Contentm. i. i. 7 If you would have your Kennell for sweetnesse of cry, then you must compound it of some large dogges, that haue deepe solempe mouthes, and are swift in spending, which must as it were beare the base in the consort. |
6. The pouring or rushing of water.
| 1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 156, I see the inundation sweet, I hear the spending of the stream. |
7. attrib. in the sense ‘used or available for ordinary expenditure or consumption’, as spending-brass, spending-silver (= spending-money), spending income; spending-cheese (see quot. a 1825).
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 278 Spera in deo speketh of prestes þat haue no spendyng syluer. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. T. 7 And spending silver had he right y-nough. a 1500 Gest Robin Hood ccxlv. in Child Ball., For of thy spendynge-syluer, monke, Thereof wyll I ryght none. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxviii, I'll take care o' the bits o' claes, and what spending siller she maun hae. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Spending-cheese, a cheese of a middling quality, used for family consumption in the dairy districts of Suffolk. 1862 Trollope N. Amer. xi, A man should certainly not apportion more than a seventh of his spending income to his house rent. 1896 Snowden Web of Weaver iv, He had a great deal more ‘spending-brass’ nor I could handle. |
b. In the sense ‘of or pertaining to expenditure or disbursement’, as spending-power, spending spree, spending tax.
| 1930 Economist 13 Sept. 477/1 Economy appeared to be denounced as a ‘policy of stagnation’ and the dangerous line of ‘increased spending-power’ once more held out as a remedial policy. 1942 Time 7 Sept. 94/3 The Senate Finance committee..pondered a new Treasury proposal for a ‘spending tax’ designed to encourage war savings. 1956 A. Huxley Adonis & Alphabet 140 We are now squandering the capital of metallic ores and fossil fuels... How long can this spending spree go on? 1968 Punch 23 Oct. 563/1 At the back of my mind there is a tiny doubt about the feasibility of the Spending Tax. 1980 ‘R. B. Dominic’ Attending Physician xvi. 144 You're not going on a spending spree with all that loot, are you? |
▪ III. ˈspending, ppl. a.
[f. spend v.1]
That spends, in various senses of the verb.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 298 It is decent to be..in houshold expence pinching and sparing, in publicke entertainement spending and pompous. 1639 J. Clarke Paræmiol. 261 A sparing father, and a spending son. 1674 J. Flavel Husb. Spiritual. xvii. 147 If this were not so, all the self-denial, spending duties and sharp sufferings of the people of God would turn to their damage. 1681 ― Meth. Grace ix. 203 Soul troubles are spending and wasting troubles. 1885 Times (weekly ed.) 7 Aug. 6/4, I am an industrious man; I am not a spending man. |