singing

▪ I. singing, vbl. n.
    (ˈsɪŋɪŋ)
    Also 4–6 syngyng(e, 5 cyngynge, etc.
    [f. sing v.¹ + -ing¹.]
    1. a. The action of the verb; chanting; also, matter suitable for singing.

a 1300 Cursor M. 20587 Omang þat singing and þat gleu Our leuedi hir sun ihesu knew. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 145, I [was] saued, as ȝe may se, with-oute syngyng of masses. c 1400 Rule St. Benet 1162 In ayn oþer plase sais he Þat angels sal our synging se. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 78 Cyngynge of songe, cantus. Ibid., Cyngynge of masse, celebracio. 1484 Paston Lett. III. 314 Sche seyd that ther wer non dysgysyngs, ner harpyng, ner lutyng, ner syngyn. 1535 Coverdale 1 Chron. vii. 31 They mynistred before the habitacion of the Tabernacle of witnes with synginge. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 21 With singing, and shouting, and iolly chere. 1611 Bible Song Sol. ii. 12 The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iii. 90 They are naturally inclined to singing. 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 763 Yet was he received by the Clergy with a Solemn Procession and Singing. 1772 Wesley Jrnl. 21 Apr., Every one stood up at the singing. 1817 Shelley Fragm., To one Singing 2 Upon the liquid waves of thy sweet singing. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting 72 The horrid noise which the Kaffirs made, and call singing. 1872 T. Hardy Under Greenw. Tree Pref., Some of these compositions which now lie before me..are good singing still.

    b. With a and pl. An instance of this. Now N. Amer. (chiefly Southern), a gathering joined for collective singing, esp. at a church; a hearty sing-song.

c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1716 In blisse, and in syngynges, This Troylus gan all his lyf to lede. c 1440 Jacob's Well 164 Leccherous maners, as kyssynges, felynges, dern syngynges. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 454 Their Diriges, their Trentals, and their shrifts, Their memories, their singings, and their gifts. 1661 Papers Alter. Prayer-bk. 80 They use not the same prayers, singings or readings. 1684 Foxe's A. & M. III. 390 Neither their singings, nor their sayings, shall bring us out of Hell. 1860 O. L. Jackson Colonel's Diary (1922) 17, I was at a singing at Woodward Church. 1934 C. Carmer Stars fell on Alabama ii. ii. 49 Ain't seen him since the singin' down at Samanthy. 1949 B. A. Botkin Treas. S. Folklore i. iv. 93 All through the South, of course, the church is an important social and cultural force, its sociability running the gamut of church-going..bush-arbor revivals, all-day singings with dinner on the grounds, church suppers, singing schools, [etc.]. 1962 E. Lucia Klondike Kate viii. 172 Families got together for ‘singings’ around the parlor piano and to play games. 1975 Budget (Sugarcreek, Ohio) 20 Mar. 3/5 They all had supper at the Lehman home and a singing was held later in the evening.

    c. The action of turning informer or laying information against someone. Cf. sense 4 d of the vb. Criminals' slang.

1937 Sat. Even. Post 18 Dec. 85/1 One actually preferred a three-year penitentiary term to singing. 1940 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 21 Mar. 3 (heading) ‘Singing’ at murder syndicate's hunting ground. 1973 Times 12 Apr. 7/4 The terrified ‘singing’ of the Sicilian ‘Valachi’ to delighted magistrates in Palermo has landed 36 Mafia suspects in jail.

    2. a. The emission of a clear musical note by fermenting or heated liquids.

c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 113 Ȝiff þe wyne reboyle, þow shalle know by hys syngynge. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., The sound made by damp wood when burning is also called singing.

    b. Teleph. A continuous self-excited oscillation of audible frequency in a telephone circuit, normally resulting from excessive positive feedback.

1923 T. E. Herbert Telephony xxvi. 829 If two repeaters are in circuit, spaced so closely that the line loss between them is less than the gain given by each ‘singing’ or ‘howling’ will persist continuously. 1962 C. F. Boyce Open-Wire Carrier Telephone Transmission xi. 231 Singing affects not only the channel which is unstable but may also cause crosstalk into another system or overloading of line amplifiers. 1975 R. L. Freeman Telecommunication Transmission Handbk. vi. 48 To control singing all four-wire paths must have some loss.

    3. A sound of a musical character having its origin in the ears or head.

1605 Chapman All Fools v. i, I'll swear I had A singing in my head a whole week after. 1614 W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) 78 The iuyce..allayes the singing in the Eares. 1656 Harrington Oceana (1700) 163, I have a singing in my head like that of a Cartwheel. 1766 Phil. Trans. LVII. 70 The giddiness in my head, singing in my ears,..were now considerably abated. 1889 Jrnl. Anthropol. Instit. XIX. 119 Singings in the ear, gurglings in the throat.

    4. attrib. and Comb., as singing commercial, singing face, singing gear, singing-master, singing matter, singing robes, singing-school, singing skill, singing-voice; singing-bone dial., the funny-bone; singing book, a book to sing from; singing-e'en Sc., New Year's eve; singing game, a traditional children's game in which singing accompanies associated actions; † singing gift (see quot.); † singing loaf = singing bread; singing-muscle, one of the syringeal muscles of a singing-bird (Cent. Dict.); singing point Teleph., the maximum gain that a telephone repeater can have without being liable to self-oscillation in the circuit; † singing psalms, the metrical version of the psalms used for singing in church; † singing wine, ? wine used in celebrating mass.

1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., *Singing-bone, the sharp bone at the edge of the elbow.

1580 Allen in J. Gillow Haydock Papers (1888) 17 To employ the same summe..upon a payre of organs, one table, and certayne *singing bookes. 1607 [? Brewer] Lingua i. ix, When shall wee heare a new set of singing-books, or th' viols, or the consort of Instruments. 1793 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1885) XXII. 148 Voted to obtain 6 Psalm Books and 6 Singing Books for the use of the Parish. 1872 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Fireside Stories 130 They tore out all the leaves of the hymn-books, and the singin'-books besides.

1948 B. Rose Wine, Women & Words 11, I wrote the first *singing commercial. 1955 New Yorker 23 Apr. 74/1, I approached Mr. Chayefsky's film with no great hope that the thing would prove to be much more interesting than a singing commercial.

1806 A. Douglas Poems 24 *Singin'-e'en she's owre aft seen, She's shakin' hands wi' fifty.

1846 Dickens Cricket on Hearth ii, He hadn't what is generally termed a *singing face.

1881 Folk-Lore Rec. III. ii. 169 The following ‘*Singing Games’ are still played and sung by the children of Bocking, in Essex..I. Mary's gone a-milking..II. Thread the Tailor's needle..III. Nuts in May [etc.]. 1905 G. Ade Let. 7 Nov. (1973) 33 One or two of the old-fashioned singing games which went as well in the Sho-Gun. 1975 B. Meyrick Behind Light xiv. 183 Playing the singing games ‘Jenny is a-weeping’, ‘In and out the stalky bluebells’.

1530 Knaresb. Wills (Surtees) I. 26 That he shall have his tytle and *singynge geyr boughte at the coste of my sayd wyeffe.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 456/2 *Syngynge ȝyfte, or reward for syngynge, syparium.

1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates f viij, A great deale of flower wolde not make so manye hostes, as they call them, or *synginge loues. 1546 T. Phaer Bk. Childr. (1553) T viij b, Make a fewe pylles of aloes,..wynde them in a piece of a singing lofe,..and let them be swalowed.

1711 Addison Spect. No. 112 ¶2 He..employed an itinerant *Singing-Master..to instruct them rightly in the Tunes of the Psalms. 1754 N.Y. Mercury 11 Mar. 3/2 William Tuckey, Singing-Master, Desires to inform all lovers of Psalmody, that..all persons may be taught by him on very reasonable terms. 1891 Harper's Mag. Oct. 813/1 The precentor, or singing-master, as he was called, was a tall young man in a black suit with white ruffles. 1928 W. B. Yeats Tower 2 And to be the singing masters of my soul. 1976 J. Drummond Funeral Urn xvii. 89 He was planning to make a concert singer of her. He'd engaged a singing-master—ostensibly to train the Amber choir, but in fact for Bess.

1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxvii, If there is any truth in your news, is it a *singing matter, you scoundrel?

1924 K. S. Johnson Transmission Circuits for Telephonic Communications xiv. 166 The *singing point or the limiting condition beyond which satisfactory operation of the repeater cannot be maintained. 1934 Post Office Electr. Engineers Jrnl. XXVII. 231/2 The vertical scale gives the singing point of a repeater in decibels.

1679 Bunyan Fear of God Wks. 1852 I. 473, I will set it before thee both as it is in the reading and in the *singing psalms. 1710 W. Beveridge Wks. (1846) VIII. 615 Great endeavours..have been made..to cast out the Old, and bring in a New Version of the Singing-Psalms.

1841 De Quincey Homer & Homeridæ Wks. 1857 VI. 362 When his *singing robes were on,..the rhapsodos held his stick in his right hand.

1736 Ainsworth, A *singing school, ludus musicus. 1838 G. F. Graham Mus. Comp. Introd. p. x, In the sixth century Pope Gregory I established a singing-school at Rome.

c 1600 F. Davison in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) II. 331 Let my tongue lose *singing skill.

1880 Lanier Sci. Eng. Verse i. 28 These are the limits for the human *singing-voice.

1558 Fraternity Holy Ghost, Basingstoke (1882) 9 Item payed for *singinge wyne, ij d.

    b. Of places used for singing in, as singing-gallery, singing-house, singing loft, singing-pew, singing-place, singing-room, singing-seat, singing theatre.

1688 Miège Grt. Fr. Dict. i, Jubé,..a singing Place. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 14 Sept. 1644, At the end of it is a Cupola or singing theatre. 1750 Phil. Trans. XLVI. 708 The Reading-Desk stands just by the Singing-Pew. 1770 Ibid. LXI. 74 The lightning entered..through two places in the roof, one near the singing loft. 1774 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1884) XXI. 271 Voted Liberty to beuld a singing Seat in the front of the Gallearry Pues. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy, Como (1839) 211 That shady nook, a singing place for birds. 1842 F. Witts Diary 22 Oct. (1978) 167 The remains were to be deposited at the west end of Upton St. Leonards church, under the singing gallery, near the font. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis xx, The theatres and singing-houses which these roaring young blades frequented. 1851 J. W. Hudson Hist. Adult Educ. 157 Singing-rooms are numerous, prosperous and constantly well-attended. 1864 Whittier Wreck of Rivermouth 109 In the singing-seats young eyes were dim. 1883 C. C. Perkins Ital. Sculp. 139 A singing-gallery (cantoria) in the Cathedral. 1902 A. Bennett Anna of Five Towns ii. 34 Mynors..should have been in his place in the ‘orchestra’ (or, as some term it, the ‘singing-seat’) of the [Methodist] chapel. 1976 S. Wales Echo 27 Nov. 12/6 (Advt.), Sing along with Mike and Charles at the newly decorated singing-room upstairs.

▪ II. ˈsinging, ppl. a.
    Also 4–5 syngynge.
    [-ing².]
    I. 1. a. That sings; giving forth song.

c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 128 Syngynge man silden weputh. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxvi. ii, All earth, I say, and all earth dwellers, Be of his worth the singing tellers. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 198 The singing Masons building roofes of Gold. 1779 Mirror No. 24, We have the whistling plow⁓man, the singing milk-maid. 1798 Coleridge Fears in Solitude 3 O'er stiller place No singing skylark ever poised himself. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 515 The bright visions, Wherein the singing spirits rode and shone. 1882 J. Parker Apostolic Life I. 12 Like a singing angel newly sent from the glad heavens.

    b. In names of birds, etc.

1864–5 Wood Homes without H. xii. (1868) 218 A most beautiful pensile nest is made by the Singing Honey-Eater (Ptilotus sonorus). 1884 Goode Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim. 253 The Batrachidæ are represented on the Pacific coast by the ‘Singing-fish’, or ‘Toad-fish’, Porichthys porosissimus.

    2. Specially or professionally employed in singing; engaged or hired to sing: a. singing man, a man engaged to sing in an ecclesiastical choir.

1527–8 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 346 Paide to a singing-man of Sent Anthis..for keping of our lady mas. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 156 To haue plaide it on the Organes with a quier of singing men. 1602 Campion Art Eng. Poesie ii. 6 Sir Thomas Moore..makes two sundry Epitaphs vpon the death of a singing man at Westminster. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. xvii. 179 He heavily aggravated the debauchednesse of Singingmen. 1725 Portland Papers VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 100 Mr. Bierly..married a daughter of Dan. Williams the Singing-man of Westminster. 1789 Burney Hist. Mus. III. i. 22 He procured a singing-man's place in the cathedral of Norwich. 1801 Busby Dict. Mus., Singing-Man, the appellation formerly given by the common people to the gentlemen of cathedral choirs. 1905 E. Candler Unveiling of Lhasa xiv. 269 The Abbot begins the chant, and the monks, facing each other like singing-men in a choir, repeat the litany.

fig. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 120 As many sortes of shrill breasted birdes, as the Summer hath allowed for singing men in her siluane chapels.

    b. Similarly singing boy, singing clerk. Also, in other than ecclesiastical use, singing girl, singing woman.

1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. xxxv. 25 All the synginge men and wemen [1611 the singing women]. 1548 Elyot Dict., Cantrix,..a syngyng woman. 1666 Pepys Diary 26 Feb., And hither come cushions to us, and a young singing-boy to bring us a copy of the anthem to be sung. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iv. 25 Let Singing-boyes Whose Pension's pay for 't, do those Drudgeries! 1709 Steele Tatler No. 41 ¶6 Mr. John Taplash..desires your Vote for Singing-Clerk of this Parish. 1776 Addit. Wks. Pope I. 35 With wives I never sin, But singing girls and mimicks draw me in. 1820 T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 302 The dicast..enters with a torch in one hand, and leads a singing-girl in the other. 1880 Browning Muléykeh 59 For a couple of singing-girls his robe has he torn in two.

    3. singing bird, a bird that sings; a songster. Usually applied to cage-birds; the pl. is also sometimes used as a rendering of oscines 2.

1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Cantrices aues, syngyng byrdes. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 288 (Q.1), Suppose the singing birds musitions. 1626 [see singer1 1 b]. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 5 ¶7 The next time it is Acted, the Singing Birds will be Personated by Tom-Tits. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 339 Of the Canary-bird, and other hard billed Singing-birds. 1818 Scott Rob Roy v, They are like imprisoned singing-birds. 1871 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 772 It is owing to the capacity of the air-cells that the Singing Birds are enabled to prolong their notes.

transf. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. iv, Mealy-mouthed inquisitors, and shaven singing-birds.

    4. a. That makes or gives out a sound of a musical character (cf. sing v.¹ 6).

1565 Cooper Thes., Sagitta stridens, a syngyng arow. 1629 Quarles Argalus & P. iii. Wks. (Grosart) III. 274/1 His winged messenger..did hide His singing feathers in his wounded side. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xvi. 423 Malice, which,..like hollow singing bullets, flies but halfway to the mark. 1716 Pope Iliad v. 214 Through the thick storm of singing spears he flies. 1791 Cowper Iliad xviii. 432 The water in the singing brass Simmer'd. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iv. 235 Sounds Sweet as a singing rain of silver dew. 1855 Longfellow Hiaw. Introd. 48 Beyond them..Stood the groves of singing pine-trees.

    b. singing arc, a direct current arc across which is connected a tuned circuit, causing the arc to oscillate and emit a sound at the frequency of the tuned circuit. singing-buoy, a buoy having something attached which gives out a singing sound. singing coal (see quot. 1883). singing glass (see quot. 1875). singing hinny (north. dial.), a kind of cake which emits a hissing sound while cooking on a girdle. singing sand, desert or beach sand that emits a singing, whistling, humming, or other continuous sound when disturbed. singing tree, a West Indian tree, the pods of which make a singing sound when stirred by the wind.

1903 Sci. Abstr. VI. 30 The author suggests replacing the ordinary high-capacity condensers necessary to produce Duddell's ‘*singing arc’ by the much less costly aluminium condenser. 1906 Electrician 21 Dec. 375/1 Limitations as to frequency..beset the use of the singing arc as a transformer of the direct mains current into uninterrupted high-frequency alternating current. 1950 Starling & Woodall Physics xxxvi. 874 The singing arc..where electrical and thermal factors are involved in the maintenance of oscillations.

1894 Outing XXIV. 460/2 A *singing-buoy had been torn from its moorings.

1855 J. Phillips Man. Geol. 193 Strata, including *singeing [sic] coal. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coalm. 223 Singing Coal, a bed of coal from which gas is ordinarily issuing from the partly-exposed face in the mine, producing a hissing sound.

1669 Pepys Diary 23 Feb., I had one or two *singing-glasses made, which make an echo to the voice, the first that ever I saw. 1792 G. Galloway Poems 34 To see..Mr. Cartwright's singing glasses. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2187/1 Singing-glass, a thin, sonorous glass vessel, which yields an echo when vibrated by a sound.

1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Singin or *Singing-hinny, a kneaded spice cake baked on the girdle; indispensable in a pitman's family. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. iv, Neither cream nor finest wheaten flour was wanting for ‘turf-cakes’ and ‘singing-hinnies’.

[1884 Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 1883 251 (heading) The singing beach of Manchester, Mass.] 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 175 A patch of *singing sand under my feet. 1941 R. A. Bagnold Physics of Blown Sand & Desert Dunes xvii. 251, I have found singing sand on the slip⁓faces of both seif and barchan dunes and of drifts formed under the shelter of cliffs. 1970 R. Johnston Black Camels of Qashran viii. 133 The night-long background music of the dunes was silenced. They were through the singing sands.

1885 A. Brassey The Trades 340 The flamboyant..is very abundant here [the Bahamas]; as is also the ‘*singing’ tree, which we first saw in Jamaica.

    II. 5. Of the nature of singing; having the musical qualities of song.

a 1425 Cursor M. 11244 (Trin.), Aungels..brouȝt word with syngynge steuen. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xxxiii. ii, O now accord Violls with singing voice. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxviii. xi, On the Lord your singing gladnes spend. 1697 C. Leslie Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 115 A She-Preacher..with a Trembling Voice, and Singing Tone. 1725 Ramsay Gentl. Sheph. i. ii, The water fa's, and makes a singand din. 1762 Ann. Reg. ii. 37, I have acquired by habit that singing tone of voice which is common in our mountains. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xvii. 317 The intervals between the louder reports being filled by a low singing noise.

Oxford English Dictionary