▪ I. shaping, vbl. n.
(ˈʃeɪpɪŋ)
Forms: see the verb.
[f. shape v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of shape v.: an instance of this.
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. x. 38 ‘Thah y swore by treuthe ant othe, that God hath shaped me y-nou at luppe’. ‘Mid shupping ne mey hit me ashunche.’ c 1440 Promp. Parv. 444/1 Schapynge, aptura, formacio. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce xiii, [A tayller] whiche surmounted alle the other in shapynge or sewynge. 1568 Charteris Pref. to Lyndesay's Wks. (1871) 4* Seing teiching and preiching is na les requisite to thair vocatioun, than schaiping & sewing is to ane tailȝeouris. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 124 We come to the like shaping of the remaining part of the Logg. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc iii. 361 Canst thou remember, Maid, what vision first Seem'd more than fancy's shaping? 1815 Scott Guy M. xiv, It was the housekeeper who did teach her those unprofitable exercises of hemming and shaping. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. ciii. 36 As one would sing the death of war,..And one the shaping of a star. |
b. Electronics. The process of modifying the waveform of an electrical signal.
| [1902 Electr. Rev. 10 Oct. 641/2 On adjusting the inductance and resistance of the shunt, along with the receiving condenser and its shunt, the signals are effectively curbed and shaped at the receiving end without reference to the sending station.] 1924 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engineers LXII. 192/1 The relation of damping to the reception of wireless signals, viz. its relation to the ‘shaping’ of the received dots and dashes. 1949 H. E. Penrose Princ. & Pract. Radar x. 152 A diode may..be employed with the primary object of exercising amplitude control, or..with the primary object of shaping. 1971 J. H. Smith Digital Logic iv. 68 The output of the shaping circuit is fed to the Sρ trigger pulse input and a 20 µF capacitor is used to control the pulse length. |
c. Radar. Modification of a radar beam so as to obtain a desired spatial configuration.
| 1945 C. S. Pao Shaping Primary Pattern of Horn Feed (M.I.T. Radiation Lab. Rep. No. 655) 2 Such beam shaping cannot usually be achieved by merely changing the geometrical dimensions of the horn. 1975 D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. xxv. 66 In the horn-fed reflector the shaping can be achieved by either the reflector or the feed. |
2. Something shaped, fashioned, or created; a creature, form, shape; a creation (of the mind or fancy).
| 1340 Ayenb. 64 Oþer huanne me zuereþ be þe sseppinges, ase me zayþ; be þe zonne þet ssinþ [etc.]. Ibid. 158 Þe dyeuel sseweþ to þe goste zuiche sseppinges and zuiche figures ase he wyle. 1629 Gaule Holy Madn. 136 Oh blot not out the louely Image of God; in faining, and framing so vaine a shaping to your selues! 1794 Coleridge Relig. Musings 338 Pale Fear Haunted by ghastlier shapings than surround Moon-blasted Madness when he yells at midnight! 1795 ― Lines at Shurton Bars 85 How oft, my Love! with shapings sweet I paint the moment, we shall meet! 1892 Greener Breech-Loader 86 This shaping of the stock is a very modified form of pistol grip. |
3. Sc. (See
quot. 1825–80.)
| 1814 W. Nicholson Tales, Peacock 91 Decamp [tailor loon], or by my bloody weapons, I'll cut thy buckram soul to shapin's! 1825–80 Jamieson, Shapings, the small bits of cloth that are cut off with the scissors in shaping any piece of dress, S. |
4. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple
attrib. as
shaping machinery;
shaping implement,
shaping mould,
shaping process (1869 C. Knight
Mechanician 77–8).
b. Special comb., as
† shaping apparel,
clothes Sc., outer garments;
† shaping board, a board on which a tailor or shoemaker shapes his materials;
shaping engine, an early name for the
shaping machine (b);
† shaping knife, a shoemakers' knife;
shaping machine, (
a) a machine for shaping metal pieces and parts of machinery; also
attrib.; (
b) a machine for shaping ship's blocks; (
c) a finishing blocking machine for hats (Knight
Dict. Mech. Suppl. 1884);
shaping-shop, that building in a shipwright's yard in which the steel framework, plates, etc. are shaped.
| 1564 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 170 His *shappinge apparell. A yowlowe sattane dublet and a payre of housse. |
| 1442 Court-Roll Gt. Waltham Manor, Essex 11 July, [Proceedings against Joan, widow of William ‘Taillor’, who] asportavit unam tabulam vocat. a *shepping-bord nuper fixam infra tenementum suum. 1483 Cath. Angl. 333/1 A Schapynge burde, sculpatorium, serdecelita. 1541 Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 176 Item, ane shaiping knyf, ane schawing irne,..ane schaiping buird. |
| 1894 Crockett Raiders xxxiii, ‘'Deed, Jen,’ said Lady Grizel,..‘I wad hae gien a' my *shapin' claes to sit there.’ |
| 1819 Rees Cycl. XXII. B 2/1 [Brunel's machinery for making ships' blocks.] The outside surfaces of the blocks are next formed to their true figure by the three *shaping engines. |
| c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 553 Trenket et subiloun *Shappyngknyf and al. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 444/1 Schapynge knyfe, scalprum. Schapynge knyfe of sowtarys, ansorium. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 3139 How cal thay ȝou, sir, with the schaiping knife? Ane sowtar, sir. 1541 [see shaping board above]. |
| 1815 Ann. Reg., Chron. (1816) 84 The *shaping machine-room [at the Mint]. a 1849 Brunel in Beamish Mem. (1862) iii. 38 The shaping machine I conceived while [etc.]. 1867 Rep. Paris Univ. Exhib. (1868) IV. 373 The same firm also show a milling, or, as it is frequently termed in England, a shaping machine, in which circular cutters are employed. 1911 J. G. Horner in Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 29/2 The shaping machine does for comparatively small pieces that which the planer does for long ones. |
| 1872 J. Richards Wood-working Machines 263 *Shaping machinery. |
| 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 63 The *shaping-shop. |
▪ II. shaping, ppl. a. (
ˈʃeɪpɪŋ)
[f. shape v. + -ing2.] That shapes, in the senses of the verb.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xii. (1495) 196 In the male ben vertues formale and shapynge and werkynge and in the female materyal suffringe and passyf. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 133 In like manner, another man whose plastick, shaping, or enkindling powers, are fraught with more of manhood,..may [etc.]. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. vi. (1857) 88 Our creative shaping intellect projected its own fantasies on him. 1897 Dowden Fr. Lit. v. iv. 409 He had..the artist's shaping hand. |