▪ I. conquering, vbl. n.
(ˈkɒŋkərɪŋ)
a. The action of the vb. conquer. (Now chiefly gerundial.)
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter 522 Takyn prisoneres in conqueryng. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 91 Conqueste or conquerynge, conquestus. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons Sign. **, All which..daungers of conquering..have proceeded chiefly through the negligence of their Princes. 1813 Southey March to Moscow 5 For as for his conquering Russia..do it he would. |
b. colloq. The act of playing ‘conkers’ (see conker a). rare.
| 1821 R. Southey Let. 28 Dec. in C. C. Southey Life & Corr. (1849) I. 55 One..amusement, which I never saw or heard of elsewhere, was greatly in vogue at this school [sc. Corston]. It was performed with snail shells, by placing them against each other, point to point, and pressing till the one was broken in, or sometimes both. This was called conquering... A great conqueror was prodigiously prized and coveted. |
▪ II. conquering, ppl. a.
[f. conquer v. + -ing2.]
That conquers; victorious.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. i. 26 God is our Fortresse, in whose conquering name Let vs resolue to scale their flinty bulwarkes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 314 Submission to a conquering Enemy. 1747 Morell Joshua (Chorus), See, the conquering hero comes. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Plato Wks. (Bohn) I. 304 The bounds of whose conquering intelligence no man had ever reached. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 54 A descendant of the conquering Franks. |
b. That decides a contest.
| Mod. They are now playing the conquering game [e.g. in a chess tournament]. |