▪ I. finishing, vbl. n.
(ˈfɪnɪʃɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. finish. Also with off.
| a 1535 Fisher Prayer E iij/1 The Smyth..vseth the hammer..towardes the finishyng of his worke. 1614 T. Jackson Comm. Apostles Creede II. 216 The accomplishment or finishing of his glory. 1672 C. Manners in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 24, I haesten on Mr. Cooper all I can to the finishing of my Lady Exesters picture. 1757 Foote Author i. Wks. 1799 I. 135 A sketch can never convey him. His peculiarities require infinite labour and high finishing. 1886 Athenæum 18 Dec. 832/1 The cuts are..as good as photography, delicate finishing, and choice modern cutting can make them. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 167/2 Cleaning-up, the operation of preparing the finished surface of joinery work. Also called finishing-off. 1942 W. S. Churchill Secret Session Speeches 23 Apr. (1946) 74 The defeat of Hitler left the finishing-off of Japan merely a matter of time and trouble. |
2. concr. That which completes or gives a finished appearance to any kind of work. In
Building and
Carpentry, decoration, ornamental work. In
Bookbinding, the lettering and ornamental work on the covers.
| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 15 If the Builder..will have the Building to have no other finishing. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 285 ¶3 Give the last Finishing to every Circumstance in so long a Work. 1766 Entick London IV. 287 The wainscot and finishing very neat. 1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navig. 25 To have a lawn terminated by water..is a finishing, of all others the most desirable. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 118 Finishings, the carved ornaments of the quarter⁓galleries. 1884 H. P. Spofford in Harper's Mag. Jan. 181/1 The house is..of a pale cream-color, with white finishings. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
finishing governess,
finishing machine,
finishing master,
finishing mortar,
finishing wood. Also
finishing-card (see
quot.);
finishing cloth, calico prepared for ‘finishing’; so
finishing goods,
finishing linens;
finishing-coat, in
Building, the last coating of plaster;
finishing-hammer, the last hammer used by the gold-beater;
finishing-post, the post or place which marks the finishing point of a race;
finishing-press (
Bookbinding), a small press used in the process of ‘finishing’;
finishing-rolls, a second set of rolls in a rolling-mill;
finishing-school, a school where a pupil's (usually young lady's) education is ‘finished’.
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 848/2 *Finishing-card, a machine in which the process of carding is repeated. |
| 1892 Daily News 19 Mar. 5/5 Printers' and *finishing cloths slow. |
| 1892 Ibid. 6 Aug. 6/4 Printing and *finishing goods slow. |
| 1862 Times 2 Jan., A *finishing daily governess wishes to devote three or four hours every afternoon to the instruction of pupils. |
| 1892 Daily News 5 Mar. 2/7 Cross Channel demand for..*finishing linens. |
| 1869 Ibid. 10 Dec., Double⁓blast thrashing and *finishing machines. |
| 1799 H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 79 All..have the honour to co⁓operate with a *finishing master. |
| 1662 Gerbier Princ. 19 Bricks to be daubed over with *finishing Morter. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 250 The finishing Morter to represent Stone, should be made of the strongest Lime. |
| 1895 Daily Tel. 26 Sept. 3 The referee was sent on ahead to the Bricklayers' Arms, the *finishing-post. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Jan. 83/3 Unable to make out exactly where the finishing-posts are. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Finishing-rolls. |
| 1836–7 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 204/2 I'll bring in a bill for the abolition of *finishing-schools. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. iii, He sent his daughters to the most expensive finishing-school in Paris. |
| 1887 West Shore 427 The white..cedar, a splendid *finishing wood. |
▪ II. finishing, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That finishes;
esp. in
(to put, give, receive) the finishing († hand,) stroke or touch.
| 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. II. 296 The finishing, or the First, act of Repentance. 1707 Reflex. upon Ridicule 330 A Mind well turn'd, receives the finishing stroke and polishing from Science. 1754 A. Murphy Gray's-Inn Jrnl. No. 71 ¶4 In each Species of Writing I have given the finishing Hand to some Pieces. 1771 Walpole Anecd. Painting IV. 145 (On Gardening), We tire of all the painter's art when it wants these finishing touches. 1831 Keble Serm. v. (1848) 106 With the finishing touch..he completes his picture of that intense depravity. 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma lxxxi. 354 To enable them to put the finishing stroke to their respective arrangements. |