▪ I. embracing, vbl. n.1
(ɛmˈbreɪsɪŋ)
[f. embrace v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. embrace in its various senses.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶870 To ben a clene widewe, and to eschiewe the embrasynges of men. 14.. Epiph. (Tundale's Vis. 113) And all the enbrasyng of the goodly cheyne. 1474 Caxton Chesse ii. ii, She shold sitte on the lift side of the kyng for the..enbrasynges of her husbond. 1555 Fardle Facions ii. i. 112 Thei absteine fro the embrasinges neither of sister ne mother. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 130/1 His nobles..he did allure to the imbrasing of good letters. 1566 Gascoigne Supposes Wks. (1587) 11 Farewell..the kind imbracings. 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parl. i. (ed. 2) 7 The embracing of the Protestant Religion. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xiii. 223 Eager embracings of the object. 1827 Pollok Course T. v, The kind embracings of the heart. |
▪ II. embracing, vbl. n.2 Law.
(ɛmˈbreɪsɪŋ)
[f. embrace v.3]
= embracery.
| 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 25 Pream., Mayntenaunce, embrasyng, champertie and corrupcion. |
▪ III. emˈbracing, ppl. a.
[f. embrace v.2 + -ing2.]
That encircles, surrounds, or encloses.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 54 A porch..Archt over head with an embracing vine. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ii. (1626) 21 The Land-imbracing Sea. 1863 E. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 98 The all-embracing Divine Being. |
Hence emˈbracingly adv., in an embracing manner: (a) as one or as those who embrace; (b) with wide comprehension, comprehensively. emˈbracingness, the quality of that which embraces or comprehends; comprehensiveness.
| 1825 Blackw. Mag. XVIII. 451 'Tween whose soft breasts lie nestling fervent love And maiden modesty embracingly. 1850 Lynch Theo. Trin. v. 78, I knelt before her half embracingly. 1872 Contemp. Rev. XX. 823 The absoluteness which means all-embracingness. 1882 Mabel Collins Cobwebs III. 151 The wide embracingness of his stern cruelty. |