▪ I. creaking, vbl. n.
(ˈkriːkɪŋ)
[f. creak v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb creak: a. of birds, etc.; esp. of geese.
| 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 269 The creaking and crying that they [hawks] use in the mewe sometymes. 1653 H. Cogan Diod. Sic. 182 The creaking of the grashoppers. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xiii. 106 Creaking of Geese. 1923 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 638/1 The ‘creaking’ of the partridges still hung in the stagnant air. |
b. of things.
| 1520 Burlesque Recipe in Rel. Ant. I. 251 The krekynge of a cart-whele. 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 97 The creaking of shooes. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge ix, Then a gentle creaking of his door. |
▪ II. ˈcreaking, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That creaks: see the verb. a creaking (also creaky) creaking gate, in proverbial phrases (see quots.).
| 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 76 The creking Crow and carrion Kight. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 383 Some creaking goose. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 510 Creaking Grashoppers. 1776 T. Cogan J. Buncle, Junior I. vi. 239 But they say a creaking gates [sic] goes the longest upon its hinges. 1800 M. Edgeworth Belinda (1832) II. xx. 47 What man can ever expect to be loved who wears creaking shoes? 1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Wds. 266 ‘A creaking gate hangs longest on the hinges.’ Used figuratively of an invalid, who outlives an apparently healthier person. 1888 F. Hume Mad. Midas ii. ii. 127 It is said that ‘creaking doors hang the longest’. 1944 A. Christie Towards Zero 62 But it seems I am one of these creaking gates—these perpetual invalids who never die. |
Hence ˈcreakingly adv., in a creaking manner; with creaking.
| 1832 Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 640 Backwards and forwards he creakingly swung. 1858 Chamb. Jrnl. X. 124 Bolts and bars..cautiously and creakingly withdrawn. |