† ˈowling, vbl. n. Obs. exc. Hist.
[Goes with owler: app. f. owl n.: see -ing 1 c.]
The practice of smuggling wool (and sheep) out of England; the trade of an owler. Also attrib., as owling boat, owling trade.
| 1699 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 548 The owling trade is in a manner supprest by the diligence of the officers appointed for that purpose. c 1728 Earl of Ailesbury Mem. (1890) 316 That owling boat coming in generally twice a week with commodities. 1738 Obs. British Wool 6 By the Owling of Wool into Foreign Countries, we enable their own Manufacturers to make much better and finer Stuffs. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. xii. 154 Owling, so called from it's being usually carried on in the night, which is the offence of transporting wool or sheep out of this kingdom, to the detriment of it's staple manufacture. 1887 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. VI. xxiii. 236. |