▪ I. training, vbl. n.
(ˈtreɪnɪŋ)
[f. train v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of train v.1, in various senses.
† 1. Drawing, trailing; drawing out, protracting, etc. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 499/2 Tranyynge, or longe a-bydynge (S. trancyynge), dilacio, mora. 1539 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 182 The coldnes on that behalf & traynyng long of the matiers might helpe to conferme the said Counsaillours advises. |
2. a. Discipline and instruction directed to the development of powers or formation of character; education, rearing, bringing up; systematic instruction and exercise in some art, profession, or occupation, with a view to proficiency in it; also, of an animal: see
quots. 1697, 1874.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke v. 61 b, In those thynges whiche concerne the bodye,..my trainyng of theim is somewhat with fauour and ientilnesse: but in such matiers as perteine to ye solle, it is a great waie streighter and sharper. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 148 Schooles..freely bestowed for the training vp of youth. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 321 When once he's broken, feed him full and high..Before his Training keep him poor and low. 1757 Foote Author i. Wks. 1799 I. 138 He's now in training as a waiter at the Cocoa-tree coffee-house. 1874 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. §24 (1879) 24 The process by which a Horse is taught any unusual performance—as when in ‘training’ for the Circus or the Stage. 1879 J. T. Rogers in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 53/2 It would be absurd to assign the genius of Mozart to training. |
b. spec. Military drill;
esp. in former use, a public meeting or muster at a stated time for drill of militia and volunteer forces; subsequently much used for the periodical camp work of the Territorials.
| 1578 Nottingham Rec. IV. 179 Soldyours trayned with the Kallyver, thys Trayning beyng the 2 of October. 1581 Styward (title) The Pathwaie to Martiall Discipline, deuided into two Bookes... The Second Booke Entreateth of sundrie proportions and training of Caleeuers. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres i. i. 5 Our countrie Gentlemen and Citizens, who haue the trayning of their shires and townes. 1616 I. T. ABC of Armes A vj b, In time of Musters or Traynings. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. viii. 375 The training of land troops to the use of their arms. 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xv, Hash,..at the Spring training, was punished..for disorderly behaviour. |
c. The process of developing the bodily vigour and endurance by systematic diet and exercise, so as to fit for some athletic feat; the condition of undergoing this process, or of the resulting physical fitness.
| 1786 W. Cowper Let. 1 May (1981) II. 531 When you come, I shall talk you into training, as the jockeys say, I doubt not that I shall make a nimble and good walker of you in a short time. 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 510/1 By what in England is called training the bulk of the body may be..rapidly diminished. 1854 Dickens Hard T. i. ii, A professed pugilist; always in training. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. x. (1894) 234, I was in good training. |
3. Management (of a plant, etc.)
esp. so as to produce the desired form or manner of a growth.
| 1724 (title) A Treatise concerning the Manner of Fallowing of Ground, Raising of Grass-Seeds, and Training of Lint and Hemp. 1871 (title) Figure Training. 1888 Nicholson's Dict. Gard., Training.., as used in gardening, refers to the management of trees and plants..by regulating their branches to give all a fair amount of space and exposure to light... Also..so as to prevent the sap flowing to any one branch or part..at the expense of another. |
4. The action of directing or aiming a fire-arm, etc.,
esp. by horizontal movement.
| 1861 Times 23 July, The horizontal motion, or training, is effected by turning the shield itself, with the gun, crew, and platform on which they stand. 1870 Daily News 1 Feb., Where the fault lies is in bad training of the gun on to the object intended to be aimed at. 1885 Pall Mall G. 6 Jan. 2/2 Two [sights] being necessary for correct pointing at certain angles of training. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. (chiefly in sense 2), as
training camp,
training centre,
training department,
training-groom,
training-ground,
training-home,
training-place,
training prison,
training programme,
training session,
training shoe,
training-stable,
training-time;
training-bank, a bank constructed to deflect or direct a current (
cf. training-wall below);
training-bit, a special kind of bit used in training a vicious horse;
training-college, a college for training persons for some particular profession;
spec. a college for training teachers:
cf. training-school below;
training-day, a day devoted to training;
spec. in former use, a stated or legally appointed day for the drilling of militia and volunteer forces;
training-halter, a form of halter used in training horses: see
quot.;
training-level, a level (
level n. 1) used in training a gun;
training-pendulum, a form of training-level with a pendulum;
training-post, a post used in directing a current into a particular channel (
cf. training-bank,
-wall);
training-school, a school in which pupils are trained for some special profession or occupation;
spec. (
a) a school for training teachers, a normal school; (
b)
N. Amer., a vocational institution for juvenile delinquents;
training-ship,
-vessel, a ship on which boys are trained for naval service;
training-wall, a wall built to direct a current into the desired channel in a river, harbour, etc.
| 1911 United Empire July 489 Two moles and a *training bank are being constructed. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Training-bit, a wooden gag-bit used when training vicious horses. The cheeks are of iron, and are connected by a rod..which passes through the wooden mouth-piece, having a head upon one end and a nut on the other. |
| 1894 T. B. Aldrich Two Bites at Cherry 216, I don't fancy he heard a gun fired, unless it went off by accident in some *training-camp for recruits. 1980 Washington Star 10 Dec. c6, I felt like a rookie again in training camp. |
| 1926 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. III. 819/2 (heading) War *training centers. 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lxxi. 549 Shanghai and Manchuria have been the biggest training centers for China's modernization. |
| 1829 Mod. [*Training College was in use in Ireland]. 1882 Ogilvie, Normal school..a school in which teachers are instructed in the principles of their profession and trained in the practice of it; a training-college. 1884 S. E. Dawson Handbk. Canada 211 A theological training-college for priests. 1901 Contemp. Rev. Mar. 361 For years the supply of teachers exceeded the demand; now it is the other way, or soon will be, and that is one of the factors in the training college problem. |
| 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer ii. i, As he passed by my window the last *training-day. 1880 E. C. Rollins New Eng. Bygones 56 This muster, or ‘training-day’,..when the militia was drilled in a vacant lot of some fortunate town. |
| 1906 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 271 To take a course of training in some existing training college or *training department. |
| 1706 S. Sewall Diary 27 May, Col. Noyes invites me to his *Training Dinner. |
| 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 172 The defendant, a *training-groom to the Duke of Dorset. |
| 1644 in Early Rec. Dedham, Mass. (1892) III. 102 From the *Trayning ground to the Cart Bridge. 1864 Bowen Logic xiii. 450 To make them [the sciences] only the training-ground, and not the field for the regular employment, of their mental powers. 1871 ‘M. Legrand’ Camb. Freshm. xi, Newmarket Heath..is very little changed... The features of this matchless racecourse and training-ground remain pretty much the same. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Training-halter, a halter made in the same manner as a riding-bridle, with the exception of having short instead of long cheeks, which are provided with rings into which bit-straps may be buckled. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 3 Feb. 4/1 To avoid anything approaching institution or *training-home life. 1904 Daily Chron. 9 Feb. 3/3 In 1880 the Women's Training Home was established at Clapton and placed under the charge of Emma Booth... She was equal to the task, and well deserved the loving name of the ‘Training Home mother’. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Training-level, a gravitating instrument for the same purpose as the training-pendulum. |
| Ibid., *Training-pendulum, an improved pendulum to facilitate the accurate elevation and depression of guns on board ship. |
| 1884 J. Tait Mind in Matter (1892) 138 A world fitted to be the temporary abode and *training-place of spirits. |
| 1884 Pall Mall G. 9 Dec. 12/1 Opening up a deep channel by the use of *training posts and the judicious use of dredging. 1950 *Training prison [see open a. 2 d]. 1977 Herald (Melbourne) 17 Jan. 2/6 The prisoners were transferred after a security review at country jails following four escapes from Geelong Training Prison in a week last month. |
| 1971 L. B. Johnson Vantage Point (1972) iv. 81 Our manpower *training programs focused on preparing unskilled men and women for jobs. 1977 Offshore Engineer June 36/1 Pilots are selected from employees who show diving aptitude with a full mechanical understanding, and are put through a rigorous training programme. |
| [1814 Brit. & For. School Soc., Bye Laws, The school for children at the Borough Road, and the school for training of schoolmasters.] 1829 Kildare Place Soc., Rep., To draw the attention of the public to these *Training Schools. 1897 Grenfell & Hunt New Classical Fragm., etc. lxvii. 101 Aurelius Asclepiades..agrees to hire from Aurelius Theon, the keeper of a training-school, probably at Arsinoe, the services of two dancing-girls. 1905 First Ann. Rep. N.Y. State Training School for Girls 4 The Penal Code was amended..so as to authorize the commitment of delinquent girls under the age of sixteen..to the New York State Training School for Girls. 1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11 Jan. 7/3 If training schools are closed, then some group homes will have to have a custodial aspect. |
| 1951 Sport 6–12 Apr. 12/2 Most clubs have selected their spot-kicker after careful tests during *training sessions. 1977 J. M. Johnson in Douglas & Johnson Existential Sociol. viii. 242 A worker in Unit One said she had decided to record her time spent in training sessions on line C of the report. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 28 Apr. 7/5 In the ‘danger’ passage, between the two *training shafts of the fore barbette. |
| c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 85 These men were never on board a ship before joining the *training ship. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy xxi. 145, I would have placed him [a boy] on a training ship and looked after him there. |
| 1973 People's Jrnl. (Inverness) 4 Aug. 20/2 (Advt.), *Training shoes. 1984 Nutshell (Gainesville, Florida) Spring 61/1 (Advt.), A remarkable new training shoe designed to take all the wear and tear high-mileage runners can give it. |
| 1894 Doyle Mem. S. Holmes 5 Where the Colonel's *training stable is situated. |
| 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Times II. xxviii. 349 The campaign had..only been a *training time for us. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 25 Mar. 5/1 The French torpedo-boats fire bow torpedoes, whereas in our own boats the Whiteheads are shot from a *training-tube. |
| 1908 Month Mar. 238 Large *training-vessels. |
| 1883 Specif. Alnwick & Cornhill Railw. 43 The *training-walls are to be built of concrete, made of six parts of gravel to one of Portland cement. |
▪ II. training, ppl. a. (
ˈtreɪnɪŋ)
[f. as prec. (or from train v.2) + -ing2.] That trains, in various senses.
† 1. Drawing;
fig. attracting, alluring, enticing.
| 1557 in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 202 Then finenesse thought by trainyng talke to win that beauty lost. 1567 Turberv. Poems 52 Force not hir trayning truthlesse eies, but turne thy face away. 1590 C'tess Pembroke Antonie 720 Th' enchaunting skilles Of her caelestiall Sp'rite, hir training speache. |
† 2. Tracking, pursuing.
Obs.| 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus F f j, Diana in her trayninge chase delightes. |
3. Having a train, trailing. Now
rare.
| 1737 Savage Public Spirit 7 The Tragic charms the Age; In solemn training Robes she fills the Stage. 1773 N. Hooke Rom. Hist. (1830) I. 6 note, Ceres was represented..with a long training robe. 1827 Miss Roberts in Lit. Souvenir 147 The long training gowns, and flowing head-dresses. |