▪ I. † ˈspelling, vbl. n.1 Obs.
[f. spell v.1]
Speaking, talking, discourse, utterance.
In OE. esp. ‘idle or unprofitable talk’.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Thorpe) I. 180 Forbuᵹað idele spellunge, and dyslice blissa. c 1030 Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 83 Idelnesse oððe spellingum [L. otioso aut fabulis]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 64 Spellunge & smecchunge beoð ine muðe boðe;..we schulen..speken nu of spellunge. a 1300 Cursor M. 19951 Petre þam said o spelling þan O baptising þat iohn bigan. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 263 So that with spellinge of hir charmes Sche tok Eson in bothe hire armes. |
▪ II. spelling, vbl. n.2 (
ˈspɛlɪŋ)
[f. spell v.2 So Du., Flem., and WFris. spelling.] 1. a. The action, practice, or art of naming the letters of words, of reading letter by letter, or of expressing words by letters.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 468/1 Spellynge, sillabicacio. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. 8 Thus lerned he þe smale scienses, as spellyng, reding and constrewyng, in his ȝong age. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 17 b, Shewe hym the maner of spellyng before wee teache hym to reade. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Espelement des syllables, a spelling of syllables. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 151 The former knowledge of spelling. 1693 Locke Educ. §143 His eldest Son, yet in Coats, has play'd himself into Spelling with great eagerness. 1758 L. Temple Sketches (ed. 2) 18 Of the Modern Art of Spelling. 1771 Luckombe Hist. Printing 270 Compositors..never can arrive to one regular way of Spelling. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1837) III. 343 There is one branch of learning without which learning itself cannot be railed at with common decency, namely, spelling. 1871 Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue ii. 121 That which we call a settled orthography is a habit of spelling which admits only of rare modification. |
b. U.S. A spelling-bee, spelling-test.
rare.
| 1860 O. L. Jackson Colonel's Diary (1922) 23 The boys were anxious for a spelling in the evening. 1889 J. W. Riley Pipes o' Pan at Zekesbury 45 How her face used to look in the twilight As I tuck her to spellin'. 1975 Budget (Sugarcreek, Ohio) 20 Mar. 14/3 The young folk are having german spellings once a week. |
2. a. Manner of expressing or writing words with letters; orthography. Also
fig.| c 1661 Marq. Argyle's Last Will in Harl. Misc. (1746) VIII. 29/2 It is most evident, that the right Spelling of Covenant is Covetousness. 1693 Dryden Disc. Satire Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 67 In the criticism of spelling, it ought to be with i, and not with y. 1697 C. Leslie Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 112 By some unusual Spelling of some words. 1770 [Sir D. Dalrymple] Anc. Scottish Poems 271 From the spelling of the specimens..I incline to think [etc.]. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 245 The letter may still be read with all the original bad grammar and bad spelling. 1894 Lindsay Latin Lang. i. §12 However natural it may appear for the Romans to have adopted Greek spelling. |
b. A particular instance of this; a special collocation of letters representing a word.
| 1731–8 Swift Polite Conv. Introd. 50 Of these Spellings the Publick will meet with many Examples. 1758 L. Temple Sketches (ed. 2) 18 An Author seems reduced to great Extremities, who flies to new Spellings to distinguish himself. 1811 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) II. x. 351 All the license of using obsolete words and uncommon spellings. 1894 Lindsay Latin Lang. i. §8 The dates at which these spellings are first found on inscriptions. |
3. attrib., as
spelling-bee (
bee1 4),
spelling card,
spelling-game,
spelling-lesson,
spelling match,
spelling mistake,
spelling-reform(er, etc.;
spelling pronunciation, the pronunciation of a word according to its written form;
spelling school,
† (
a) a building in which spelling is taught; (
b)
U.S., a contest in spelling. Also
spelling-book.
| 1875 Ann. Reg. 111 A *Spelling Bee has been held at the Myddelton Hall, Islington. |
| 1850 C. M. Yonge Langley School xviii. 166 ‘Nobody’ left the gate open,..tore the *spelling cards, scratched the slates. 1974 ‘J. le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy xxii. 186 Spelling cards lay spread over the floor. |
| 1731 T. Dyche (title), The *Spelling Dictionary. |
| 1880–3 (title), The *Spelling Experimenter... Conducted by W. R. Evans. |
| 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 5504, Alphabet and *spelling game, adapted for infant-schools and nurseries. |
| 1815 Scott Guy M. li, He had..the strongest desire..to resume *spelling lessons and half-text. |
| 1845 H. Greeley in Publ. Mod. Lang. Soc. Amer. (1941) LVI. 501 It used to be the custom that the head of the first class and the next should choose sides for a ‘*spelling match’. 1967 B. Banfill Pioneer Nurse xiii. 146 An invitation for all of us to an old-fashioned Spelling Match. |
| 1966 N. Marsh Black Beech & Honeydew iii. 74, I won a Navy League Empire Prize..with an essay containing thirty-one *spelling mistakes. |
| 1901 E. Koeppel (title) *Spelling-pronunciations. 1927 L. Bloomfield in Amer. Speech II. 438/1 This last feature is a fairly close parallel to our ‘spelling pronunciations’, such as the full form fore-head for forrid and the now perhaps accepted waist⁓coat and seam-stress for weskit and semstress. 1944 [see pronunciation-spelling s.v. pronunciation 6]. 1977 P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching of English xii. 153 One further characteristic of American pronunciation that contrasts with British speech is the frequency of ‘spelling pronunciations’ in both place-names and proper names. |
| 1848 A. J. Ellis (title) A plain statement of the objects and advantages of the *spelling reform. 1873 Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue (ed. 2) 179 Many proposals for spelling-reform have been made in this country and in America. |
| 1849–50 (title), The *Spelling Reformer. Edited by A. J. Ellis. 1908 G. K. Chesterton All Things Considered 220 Some spelling-reformers..do spell his name phonetically. 1936 Discovery May 164/2 Unlike many spelling reformers, he respects tradition and the ‘look’ of a word. |
| 1704 Swift Tale of Tub 16 There is also, the *Spelling School, a very spacious Building. 1832 E. M. Chamberlain Jrnl. 25 July in Indiana Mag. Hist. (1919) XV. 241 In the evening I appointed a spelling school at which I invited all the parents to attend. 1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 138 Backwoods debating societies, spelling schools, story telling, and singing helped to while away the time. |
Add:
[3.] spelling checker Computing, a program which checks the spelling of words in files of text,
usu. by comparing them with a stored list of acceptable spellings.
| 1980 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery XXIII. 676/3 There are two types of spelling programs: *spelling checkers and spelling correctors. 1983 Trans. Philol. Soc. 37 A spelling-checker of the future..might recognize not merely non-English words, but words occurring in non-English positions. |
▪ III. ˈspelling, vbl. n.3 [f. spell v.4] The use or exercise of spells or charms.
rare.
| 1664 Cotton Scarron. iv. (1741) 115 She'll make a Cowl-staff, by her Spelling, Amble like any double Gelding. 1939 Dylan Thomas Map of Love 15 Endure burial under the spelling wall. |
▪ IV. spelling, vbl. n.4 (
ˈspɛlɪŋ)
[f. spell v.3] 1. Sc. The practice of acting as a substitute for another or taking turns at some work or labour.
| 1920 Glasgow Herald 16 Apr. 7 The Sheriff finds that the custom known as ‘spelling’ is recognised in the West of Scotland, and in this case the defender's stevedore assented to the pursuer ‘spelling’ for the regular employee. 1955 Times 17 Aug. 5/4 Organized ‘spelling’—that is to say, arrangements between members of a gang that they shall take it in turns to leave their work—is still to be found in Glasgow and Liverpool, in spite of many attempts to stamp it out. 1965 Daily Express 6 Aug. 4/5 ‘Spelling’ in Glasgow is the same as ‘welting’ in Liverpool. |
2. Austral. Resting from work. Also
attrib.| 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 591/2 Old Davy..settled down on a selection near Grassmere which the Cornet Scrubber,..used as a spelling-place in his spare hours. 1926 B. Cronin Red Dawson ii. 36 There was need for their spelling before they sat in on the game in real earnest. |