sunning, vbl. n.
(ˈsʌnɪŋ)
[f. sun n.1 and v. + -ing1.]
1. Exposure to the sun; basking in the sun.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 169 b, They chaunge the naturall colour of theyr heare with crafty colour and sonnynge [L. insolatione]. 1693 Sir T. P. Blount Nat. Hist. 42 There are some who affirm, that Cinnamon..acquires its..strength by fifteen Days Sunning. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 278 Our wo-begone widows are frequently..scarce permitted to give their mourning weeds the benefit of a second day's sunning before they are entangled in another matrimonial web. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 53 Where it is necessary to degrade the whites of hard prints, that is easily done by sunning. 1894 Walsh Coffee (Philad.) 96 Three days' thorough sunning usually suffices to render the coffee quite dry and brittle. |
| attrib. 1847 Stoddart Angler's Comp. 308 Pike..when on the bask, or in sunning humour. |
b. In
phr. a sunning (see
a prep.1 12, 13),
esp. in
to set (lay) a sunning, to expose to the sun, to sun; also
to sit, hang a sunning.
| 1510 Stanbridge Vocabula (W. de W.) C vj b, Apricor, to syt a sonnynge or to sonne. c 1518 Kalender of Sheph. A v, For & clerkes shewe them bokes of cunnynge, They bydde them lay them vp a sonnynge. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 40 Sette these waters a sonnynge. 1600 Nashe Summer's Last Will 198 Old wiues a sunning sit. 1633 T. James Voy. 42 They hung a Sunning all day. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 67 They gather the cinnamon..then lay it a fortnight a sunning. 1664 Comenius' Janua Ling. 500 Linnen..is laid a sunning to whiten. 1680 Otway Caius Marius v. i, When they are set a Sunning upon the Capitol. 1885 Jewett Marsh Isl. xi, The pies were baked, and the pots and pans still a-sunning. |
† 2. Shining like the sun, radiance.
Obs. rare.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxix. vi, On pathes enlighted by thy faces sunning. |
3. Fishing. A method of catching salmon by spearing them when dazzled or alarmed by the reflection of sunlight from some bright object.
| 1843 Scrope Salmon Fishing x. 209 Sunning..is a mode of taking salmon with a spear by sun light. 1895 Pall Mall Gaz. 26 July 9/2 In Norway we have seen the sunning carried on by means of a painted board illuminated by a large lens. |
So
ˈsunning,
ppl. a., basking in the sun.
| 1902 Academy Mar. 225 Where the sunning partridge drums. |