spacing, vbl. n.
(ˈspeɪsɪŋ)
[f. space v.]
1. The action of the verb, in various senses, or the result of this action. Also with out. a. In printing, writing, or typing.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxii. ¶8 With too great Spacing-out or too Close Setting, he..may save himself a great deal of Labour. 1771 Luckombe Hist. Printing 396 Spacing consists in putting a proper distance between words. Ibid., In common Roman Matter, a moderate equal distance between word and word, is counted True Spacing. 1808 C. Stower Printer's Gram. vi. 159 Close spacing is as unpleasant to the sight as wide spacing. 1862 Macm. Mag. Nov. 15 Where the printer can help by means of large letters and spacing. 1871 Spectator 22 Apr. 474 The difference between huddling and spacing out is one which depends partly on character.., very few men..spacing out their letters exactly alike. |
b. In general use. Also
attrib. as
spacing collar,
spacing lace,
spacing machine,
spacing washer.
| 1874 Thearle Naval Archit. 129 The sizes and spacing of the rivets must be regulated accordingly. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 31/2 The spacing of the beams depends largely upon the positions of the hatchways. 1895 Jrnl. R. Inst. Brit. Archit. 14 Mar. 349 There are other points of difference between the spacing out of the pictures. |
| attrib. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2251 Spacing and Boring Machine, (Wood-working,) a machine for boring blind-stiles, sashes, etc., at accurately equal distances. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlew. 442/2 Spacing Lace..does not intimate a particular kind of lace, but lace used for a certain purpose. 1916 Automobile Engineer VI. 92/2 (caption) Adjustable spacing collar for milling cutters. 1923 Popular Wireless 27 Oct. 294/1 (Advt.), Spacing washers, large{ddd}per doz. 2½d. 1971 Buck & Hickman Tool Buyer's Guide 96 Spacing Washers also supplied 1½ in. bore × 21/4 in. dia. Ibid., Spacing collars and washers for milling machine arbors. |
2. Med. Period of time,
esp. between the attacks of malarial fever.
| 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases ii. 48 The fever.., except in the matter of the spacing, which is one of forty-eight hours, resembles that caused by the quartan parasite. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 207 The intervals between words—the spacing or order in time of utterance—may be irregular. |
3. Breadth of treatment; spaciousness.
| 1877 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. ii. 257 If we are now and then conscious in the book of a certain want of spacing,..a sense of being too narrowly enclosed. |