▪ I. mealing, vbl. n.1
(ˈmiːlɪŋ)
Also 5 melwynge.
[f. meal v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of grinding meal; also, the action of finely pulverizing gunpowder. Chiefly attrib., as in mealing trade; mealing stone, a stone used for grinding meal; mealing table, a slab for mealing gunpowder upon.
| 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 582/19 Farracio, Melwynge. 1805 A. Edlin (title) On the Art of Bread-making, wherein the Mealing Trade..is Examined. 1828 J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 78 Mealing Tables. 1866 Reader 22 Sept. 307 A mealing stone with a hollow in which the corn was bruised. 1880 Dawkins Early Man 268 Two concave stone grain-rubbers or ‘mealing-stones’. |
2. The action of covering with meal.
| a 1810 Robin Hood & Beggar lxxix. in Child Ballads (1888) III. 163/2 He thought, if he had done them wrong In mealing of their cloaths [etc.]. |
▪ II. mealing, vbl. n.2
(ˈmiːlɪŋ)
[f. meal v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of taking meals; U.S. the action of taking meals at a boarding-house.
| 1659 H. L'Estrange Alliance Div. Off. 188 The junketings, comessations, and mealing together were soon laid aside. 1887 A. A. Hayes Jesuit's Ring 55 She must draw the line..when the hauling cost more than the mealing. |
▪ III. mealing
obs. form of mailing.