▪ I. leasing, n. Obs. or arch. exc. dial. (Sc. and north.)
(ˈliːzɪŋ)
Forms: 1 léasung, -ing, 2–3 leasung, (2 lesung, 3 lesin, læs(s)inge, lasinge, leosinge), 3–4 lessinge, 3–6 lesinge, -yng(e, 3–7 lesing, (4 lesenge, -ine, leesyng, Kent. lye(a)singe, leazinge), 4–8 leesing, (5 -ynge, -inge, lesyn, 6 leasyng(e, Sc. leis-, leysing, 7 leazing), ? 2, 3– leasing.
[OE. léasung, f. léasian: see lease v.2 and -ing1.]
Lying, falsehood.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John viii. 44 Miððy spreceð leasuung. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 229 Heo onscunede..alle leasunge. a 1225 Ancr. R. 82 Þe deouel..is leas, & leasunges feder. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2578 He wereden hem wið lesing. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 585 ‘Is þat soþ?’ sede he. Heo sede, ‘ȝe, sire, withute lesing’. c 1340 Cursor M. 15412 (Trin.) In to ȝoure hondes I shal him take: holde hit no lesynge. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 480, I wald revard the but lesing. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 33 Ye saide ye loved us..the which was fals lesinge. 1459 Paston Lett. I. 497 Walsham of Chauncery, that never made lesyng, told me that [etc.]. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 106, I knaw me vicious, Lord, and richt culpable In aithis sweiring, leising, and blaspheming. 1535 Coverdale 2 Esdras xiv. 18 The trueth is fled farre awaye, & lesynge is hard at hande. 1595 Spenser Col. Clout 102 No leasing new, nor grandams fable stale. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 75 All your faire speeches..are nought else but hypocrisie and leazing. 1611 Bible Ps. v. 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speake leasing. 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 211 And so take againe either your manifest lesing, or manifest ignorance. 1712 Prior Alma iii. 9 As folks..prone to leasing, Say things at first because they're pleasing. 1825 Scott Talism. xiii, Satan is strong within you..and prompts thee to leasing. |
b. In particularized use: A lie, falsehood.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) v. 5 Þu fordest þa þe symle leasinga specað. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Ðe defles sed is cheast and twispeche and curs and leasinges. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 211/400 Þat we with lesingues bi-traieth men. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 633 A lesyng ys Whan þou wost þat þou seyst mys. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 2 Many men seyn that in sweveninges Ther nis but fables and lesinges. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxxvi. 145 (Harl. MS.) Vnhonest and vnleful talkinges, lesynges, & bacbitinges. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 384 So that in giuing credite to thy letters, I may be deceiued with thy leasings. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 48 That false pilgrim, which that leasing told. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. i. iv, He [Lucian] doth feed you with fittons, figments, and leasings. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. (1634) 197 The Priests..to magnifie their antiquities, filled the Records with many leasings. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week Prol. 74 For Trading free shall thrive again, Nor Leasings leud affright the Swain. 1731 Swift On Mr. P―y being put out of C. Misc. (1735) V. 110 Sir R― weary'd by Will. P―y's Teazings, Who interrupted him in all his Leasings. |
c. Comb., as leasing-bearer; leasing-maker, a liar; spec. in Sc. Law (now Hist.), one who utters untrue and slanderous statements such as are likely to prejudice the relations between the king and his subjects; so leasing-making, verbal sedition; † leasing-monger, a liar.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 298/2 *Lesynge berare, mendifer. |
| 1388 Wyclif Prov. xxi. 6 He that gadrith tresours by the tunge of a *leesing [maker]. 1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 8/2 All lesingis makaris & tellaris of þaim. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iv. viii, The lesynge maker and flaterer. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3953/1 Act anent Leesing-makers and Slanderers. |
| a 1715 Burnet Own Time i. (1724) I. 25 Nor had they the nature of the paper before them, which was judged by the Court to be *leasing-making. 1863 H. Cox Instit. i. xi. 272 note, By the law of Scotland..verbal sedition or leasing-making, is inferred from [etc.]. |
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 268 Þei ben..*lesyngmongeris. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) vii. ii. 277/2 Bacbyters lesyng-mongers and wycked spekers..be the worst theues upon the erthe. |
▪ II. leasing, vbl. n.1 Now dial.
(ˈliːzɪŋ)
Also 6 lezing.
[f. lease v.1 + -ing1.]
Gleaning. Also concr. = leasing corn.
| 1534 Act 25 Hen. VIII, c. 1 Stat. Irel. (1678) 46 Many..persons..will not labour for their living, but have their sole respect to gathering and lezing of corn in harvest time. 1772 Graves Spirit. Quixote II. 255 How much might she earn a day, then, by her leasing? c 1825 Houlston Tracts II. xlvii. 2 What was to become of the poor, now their leasing was all eaten and gone? |
b. attrib., leasing-corn, wheat got by gleaning.
| 1857 E. Acton Eng. Bread-Bk. 138 note, The wheat..which her family have gleaned,—the leasing corn,—supposed to make the best bread of any. |
▪ III. leasing, vbl. n.2
(ˈliːsɪŋ)
[f. lease v.3 + -ing1.]
The action of lease v.3; letting out (on lease). Also attrib.
| 1521 Bury Wills (Camden) 124 In lesyng and lettyng y⊇ days werke. 1610 J. More in Buccleuch MS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 90 In case of leasing, whether you will reserve the house. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 284 If actual possession were necessary, a leasing power could never be executed where land was in the hands of a tenant. 1880 Times 30 July 9/4 The leasing of shooting rights. |
▪ IV. ˈleasing, vbl. n.3
[f. lease n.4 + -ing1.]
attrib. in leasing reed, in weaving, a reed through which the warp threads pass as they come off the bobbins.
| 1927 T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk 108 The ends of the bobbins are threaded through a leasing reed. 1960 Textile Terms & Definitions (ed. 4) 90 (caption) Leasing. |
▪ V. leasing, ppl. a.1
(ˈliːzɪŋ)
[f. lease v.1 + -ing2.]
Gleaning.
| 1829 E. Jesse Jrnl. Nat. 361 The allowance of fourteen pence a day..would hardly be accepted by my leasing neighbours in place of it [viz. gleaning]. |
▪ VI. leasing, ppl. a.2
(ˈliːzɪŋ)
[Formed as a corresp. adj. to leasing n. Cf. lease v.2]
Lying.
| 1873 W. S. Mayo Never Again xii. 166 Here, take this leasing, meeching bard, With priestly aid go bind him hard. |