▪ I. suspending, vbl. n.
(səˈspɛndɪŋ)
[f. suspend v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb suspend.
1. = suspension 1.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 80 Sumtyme men weren forboden of trewe prestis to vse & do sacramentis in open cursed lif, & þat is trewe suspendynge. c 1440 Jacob's Well 30 Sentence of cursyng, of suspendyng, of enterdyȝtyng aȝens kyng, lord, baroun. c 1585 [R. Browne] Answ. Cartwright 15 He seemeth to allowe also their suspendings of preachers. |
2. = suspension 2, 4.
| 1524 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 108 The cause of the said kirkis suspending. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 595/2 A suspendinge of the vse of y⊇ wyttes. 1673 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 49, I long very much for an answer concerning y⊇ Rules. I must needs say that y⊇ Letter for y⊇ suspending of them..has bin of great disadvantage to me. 1696 Sc. Acts Will. III (1823) X. 66/1 His Majestie..Ordains that in case of calumnious suspending the Lords of Session Decern a third part more then is Decerned for Expences. |
† 3. = suspension 7. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 269/1 By the fyrst thre suspendynges that he had ought to be noted he was suspended or taken vp fro the loue of the world and he was suspendyd that is to say ententyf in heuenly loue And he was suspended that is to saye wrappyd in the grace..of God. |
▪ II. suˈspending, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That suspends, in various senses.
1. In non-physical sense: see suspend v. 1, 2.
| 1656 G. Collier Answ. 15 Quest. Ded. A 2, Mr. Fisher..hath sent abroad..bitter insinuations against suspending ministers (as he calls them). 1689 Tutchin Heroick Poem 8 No Poetry must pass, but serv'd the Cause, Or some Suspending Ballad of the Laws. 1824 L. Murray Engl. Gram. iv. i. §4 (ed. 5) I. 366 It is a general rule, that the suspending pause should be used when the sense is incomplete. 1862 Brougham Brit. Const. xvi. 247 James..assumed the full dispensing and suspending powers. 1910 Edin. Rev. Jan. 132 In spite of the Lords' claim to act as a revising and suspending chamber. |
2. In physical sense (see suspend v. 8), usually applied to the support by which something is suspended (8 c).
| 1613 in A. F. Steuart Scots in Poland (S.H.S.) 69, 16 pairs of suspending eye-glasses. 1796 Monthly Mag. II. 883 The patentee..proposes to attach the bridge to these [two parallel elliptic] curves, by means of wrought iron suspending bars. 1797 J. Curr Coal Viewer 22 The suspending lug of the corf. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. ii. (1842) 51 When the substance is small, the balance delicate, and the suspending line thick. 1846 Owen in Rep. Brit. Assoc. i. 205 The large suspending mastoid to which Muller gives the name of ‘temporale’. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2462/1 Suspending-clutch, a grapple to be fixed to a beam in a barn or warehouse, for the purpose of suspending hoisting-tackle. |