▪ I. horning, vbl. n.
(ˈhɔːnɪŋ)
[f. horn n. or v.]
† 1. Bleeding with a horn. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. xxviii. (Bodl. MS.), Leting of blood vndur þe tunge..copping or hornyng in þe nekke and in þe schuldres. |
† 2. Covering or furnishing with horn. Obs.
| 1421–2 York Minster Fabric Acc. (Surtees) 46 Thomæ Hornar..pro hornyng et naillyng superscriptorum librorum. |
† 3. Cuckolding, cuckoldry. Obs.
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 40 Too auoow that many an honest man..hath had his hoous by horning well vphollden. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 67 'Tis thought you haue a goodly gift in Horning. 1762 J. Hall-Stevenson Crazy Tales 55 An hour convenient for horning. |
4. Sc. Law. ‘Putting to the horn’ (see horn n. 14). letters of horning: a process of execution issued under the signet directing a messenger to charge a debtor to pay or perform in terms of the letters, under pain of being ‘put to the horn’, i.e. declared rebel. (Now largely superseded by the simpler forms of diligence introduced by 1 & 2 Vict. c. 114; but not obsolete.)
| 1536 Sc. Acts Jas. V, c. 38 (1814) II. 350/1 Þaim þat sustenit sik process of hornyng ȝere and day as said Is. 1568 in Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 426 Upon the said letters of horning, to direct letters to officers of armes..to uptake the escheats of the persouns denounced and putt to the horne. 1733 Neal Hist. Purit. II. 315 Who were charged with letters of Horning for their disobedience. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 57. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. V. lvii. 166 The Government..relaxed the hornings,—that is to say, restored the men for the time to the protection of the law. |
† 5. The fact of becoming a crescent. Obs.
| a 1646 J. Gregory Posth. (1650) 168 (T.) They account..from the horning [of the moon]. |
6. Shipbuilding. See horn v. 4.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 190/1 A line or batten is stretched from some point in the middle-line of the keel to the corresponding heads or sirmarks on the opposite sides, and the two measurements must..be equal when the timbers are in place; this operation is termed ‘horning’. |
7. attrib. horning-tackle: see quot. 1850.
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 147 Horning Tackles..most convenient to horn or square the frame as wanted. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss Hags xvi. 113 This is not a ‘horning’ but a hanging job. |
▪ II. ˈhorning, ppl. a.
[f. horn v. + -ing2.]
That horns or ‘puts to the horn’: see prec., 4.
| 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. iii. 36 In no Nation in the World, but the poor, rigid, horning Scots. |
▪ III. † horning
app. a corruption of hornen a. Obs.
| 1622 W. Hornbye Horn-bk. (Tuer), My honest, humble, harmlesse horning-book, From whence young Schollers their first learning took. 1632 Heywood 2nd Pt. Know not me i. Wks. 1874 I. 258 The horning-busk and silken bride⁓laces are in good request with the parsons wife. |