▪ I. wreathing, vbl. n.
(ˈriːðɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The action of twisting or contorting; the fact of writhing; an instance of this.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Torsement, a wreathing. 1587 Golding De Mornay xiii. 223 Leauing their mouings free; which yet..shall come to the end which God hath listed to appoint vnto them, whatsoeuer windings and wreathings they seeme to themselues to make. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 34 By the wreathing of their bodies..they seek to avoid the pursuer. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. v. 8 Touching the Contorsion or Wreathing of the recurrent Nerve. 1721 Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 130 The Earth-Worm..by a sort of wreathing..takes hold of the Ground with its small Feet. 1794 R. J. Sulivan View Nat. II. 456 The sun,..whose oblique course is not unaptly represented by the wreathings of a snake. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 451 The attendants told me, from the wreathing of her body.., that she would soon have another fit. 1823 J. Baillie Poems 260 [Steam] With tressy wreathings playing in the air. 1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Oct. 23 Mid the wreathings of the vapour dim The goddess grew in glory visible. |
| fig. 1612 Shelton Quix. i. iv. vi. (1620) 345 His Friend did notable injurie to their amitie in searching out wreathings and ambages in the discovery of his most hidden thoughts to him. 1641 Fannant True Relat. Parl. Rich. II, 37 Those infinit wreathings of contention. |
b. concr. That which is wreathed or twisted.
| 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme iii. xiii. 449 And for these grafts it is ynough, if euerie one of them, haue one good eielet or two aboue the wreathing. 1634 Peacham Compl. Gentl. (ed. 2) xii. 110 To Painters, for the picturing of some exquisit arme, leg, torse or wreathing of the body. |
† 2. A wresting of the sense or meaning of something. Obs.
| 1628 Prynne Cens. Cozens 67 Which is a grosse abuse, a wreathing, a peruerting of the Scriptures. |
3. The action or fact of entwining or intertwining; an instance of this.
| 1533 [see wrapping vbl. n. 1 b]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 53 Boughes and braunches..did..dilate Their clasping armes, in wanton wreathings intricate. 1661 Boyle Spring of Air ii. ii. (1682) 32 In strings there is required either wreathing or some..texture of component parts. 1844 Mrs. Browning Cry of Children viii, Let them touch each other's hands, in a fresh wreathing Of their tender human youth! a 1901 W. Bright Age of Fathers (1903) II. 23 The wreathing of a garland for the Penates. |
4. The action of investing with a wreath.
| 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxx. IX. 137 The operations of wreathing and unwreathing must here have been performed by the soldiers symbolically. |
▪ II. ˈwreathing, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. That wreathes, twists, or twines; enwreathing.
| 1677 Dryden State Innoc. iii. 16 When your kind Eyes look'd languishing on mine, And wreathing Arms did soft embraces joyn. 1697 ― Virg. Past. iv. 22 Unbidden Earth shall wreathing Ivy bring. 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan 180 To cast from off her Brow the wreathing Green. 1816 Byron Siege Cor. vi, In red and wreathing columns flash'd The flame. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes xiv, [To] see the wreathing water in the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge. 1887 J. J. Hissey Holiday on Road 327 The wreathing mists and wandering clouds of such a day. |
† 2. wreathing-team, part of the gear of a plough.
Perhaps an error for wrethen wreathen ppl. a.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §5 He muste haue his ploughe and his..horses, and the geare that belongeth to them;..bowes, yokes, landes, stylkynges, wrethynge-temes. |
Hence ˈwreathingly adv.
| 1845 J. C. Mangan German Anthol. II. 59 That lone Gate which the tall wild weeds encircle wreathingly. 1891 Temple Bar Mag. Aug. 542 [The smoke] falls wreathingly upon the face of the sleeping child. |