▪ I. tilling, vbl. n.
(ˈtɪlɪŋ)
[f. till v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of till v.1; work done upon land for raising crops; cultivation, tillage.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 296 Þe winȝeardes..þet mot muche tilunge to uorte beren windberien. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 63 Fourty wynter folke lyued with-outen tulyinge. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 281 Konnynge of telienge [v. rr. tellynge, tillyng] of feeldes þey cleped Cereres. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 70 In tilieng, ering, and labourage of his londis to bere corne and fruit. a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 12 The well tilling and husbanding of the ground. 1678 Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. i. xix. §9 (1699) 101 The stealers of Pleugh-graith..in the time of Teiling..are to be punished to the death. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4703/2 A Bill..for encouraging the Tilling of Land with Bullocks. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1206 Whether the land is of such a nature as to require an extraordinary expence in manuring or tilling. |
| fig. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 271 b/1 Lyke a tylyer of Ihesu cryst he prouffyted in spyrytuel tylyeng. 1640 H. Woodward (title) A Childes Patrimony laid out upon the good culture or tilling over his whole man. |
† b. concr. The produce of tilling; a crop: = tillage 2 b. Obs. rare.
| 1680 J. Goodyear in Hereford Dioc. Reg. 4 Oct., Wanting ropes in the time of Harvest to carry in his tilling with. |
c. attrib., as tilling land, land fit for tilling, arable land.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 89 But now wodes beþ i-hewe adoun and newe telynge lond i-made. 1488 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 494 Parte of the tyllyng land. |
▪ II. ˈtilling, ppl. a.
[f. till v.1 + -ing2.]
That tills or cultivates land.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 319 Þe first was an heerde, and þe toþer a tiliyng man. 1906 Daily Chron. 15 Sept. 3/1 Nor spurn my muse because it sings..Of tilling men who plough and reap. |