▪ I. grazing, vbl. n.1
(ˈgreɪzɪŋ)
[f. graze v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of graze v.1; pasturing.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 210/2 Gresynge, of beestys fedyngs, pastura. a 1520 Vox Populi 41 in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 401/1 Suche and suche, That of late are made riche, Have to, to, to myche By grasyng and regratinge. 1594 R. Ashley tr. Le Roy's Interch. Course of Things 28 a, There is no doubt but that pasturage, grasing, and shepheardrie, were before husbandrie and tillage. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 19 The Laplanders live by hunting and grasing. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. p. xix, The mode of grazing in Romney Marsh and East Kent. 1867 D. G. Mitchell Rural Stud. 275 Where he may watch his Alderneys at their quiet grazing. |
† b. fig. in phr. to send a grazing, etc. = to send to grass, etc. (see grass n.1, 5 b). Obs.
| 1533 More Apol. xxxvi. Wks. 901/2 Hys remembraunce was good inoughe, saue that it went about in grasing til it was beaten home. a 1632 T. Taylor God's Judgem. ii. iv. (1642) 53 Being tyred with his new Peere, he turned her off to grazing. 1688 Kennet in Magd. Coll. (O.H.S.) 258 The several counties whither we were sent a grazing. 1693 Humours of Town 23 The young Cully sends him out a-grazing like Nebuchadnezzar, with scarce a Shirt to his back. |
2. Grazing ground, pasture-land, pasture.
| 1517 Domesday Inclos. (1897) I. 220 Wher ther was ij plowys wele ocupyd, now yt ys retorned to pasteure and grasyng. 1588 R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 181 They doo feede them commonly in the fieldes of rice, for that they haue no other grasinges. 1752 J. Stewart in Scots Mag. (1753) 295/1 Having..taken grasings south for the cattle. 1816 Scott Old Mort. i, The grazings on which their grandsires fed their flocks and herds. 1893 Lydekker Horns & Hoofs 147 In open plains, where there is good grazing. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as grazing country, grazing ground, grazing land, grazing rights; grazing-like adj.; grazing guard, a guard placed over the cattle of an army whilst grazing.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §595 If the Ground be Grazing Ground. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 13 A second sort of grazing Ground. 1835 J. Batman in Cornwallis New World (1859) I. 404 The same open, grazing-like land is every where seen. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. Pref. (1880) 6 Down to a comparatively recent period, it [England] was a great grazing country. 1890 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 254 Their owners commenced to grumble if the Rainbow cattle fed over their grazing rights. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 19 Dec. 4/2 Captain Borrow and Sir John Willoughby..galloped out of laager..and headed them off back to the grazing guard. |
Add: [1.] c. transf. The action of *graze v.1 2 c, d. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
| 1979 Daily Tel. 27 Apr. 19/8 In almost any supermarket partially-consumed packages of biscuits, cheese, potato chips and other tasty things are found to provide the tell-tale evidence of ‘grazing’. 1983 Verbatim Autumn 9/1 ‘Grazing’, to us, has a depraved connotation. A ‘grazer’ is usually wild-eyed and clad in rumpled pajamas as he forages from cabinet to cabinet. 1984 Supermarket News 15 Oct. ii. A1/1 Employe practices also affect the grazing problem, Taylor said, among them regular rest breaks. 1986 Artseen Dec. 30/1 So much quality time down the pan waiting on some dozy airhead with attitude to quit grazing, and pick up the goddam handset! 1988 P. Monette Borrowed Time v. 117 The finicky princess-and-pea meals favored by the foodies were suddenly unsubstantial, and we avoided the grazing restaurants in favor of the all-American. 1991 Times 10 July 25/5 The more channels there are, the more ‘grazing’..there is, the better the chance people will watch infomercials. |
▪ II. ˈgrazing, vbl. n.2
[f. graze v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of graze v.2; the touching or rubbing of a surface in passing so as to turn it up or roughen it; abrasion.
| a 1693 Ludlow Mem. (1698) I. 59 With the grazing of a Bullet upon the Face of one of the Servants. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 77 ¶1 By the lucky grazing of a bullet on the Roll of his Stocking. |
▪ III. grazing, ppl. a.1
(ˈgreɪzɪŋ)
[f. graze v.1 + -ing2.]
That grazes. a. Of an animal: That feeds on growing grass.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 19 Whiles he had keeping of his grasing steed. 1725 Pope Odyss. xvii. 620 The grazing ox and browzing goat. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxii. 49 A flower privily growing, Hid from grazing kine. 1880 Muirhead Gaius Digest 632 He who..killed another man's slave or grazing quadruped. |
b. That keeps cattle at grass.
| 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. I. 5 Great part of the lands..are held by the Farmers, Cowkeepers, and Grasing-Butchers. |
▪ IV. ˈgrazing, ppl. a.2
[f. graze v.2 + -ing2.]
That grazes; that touches or rubs lightly in passing or moving; abrading.
| c 1693 Ad Populum Phaleræ i. 65 More dangerous than grazing Ball that flew. 1834–47 J. S. Macaulay Field Fortif. (1851) 148 An oblique direction should be given to the loop-holes..to obtain a grazing fire. 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 115 A grazing iron collar grinds my neck. 1872–6 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v., When the trajectory is low and nearly parallel to the ground, and when the projectile strikes the object..at a less angle than 10°, this is termed grazing fire. 1881 Ld. Rayleigh in Nature XXV. 64 By giving the light a more nearly grazing emergence. |
Hence ˈgrazingly adv., so as to graze.
| 1881 Cornh. Mag. Dec. 710 The course of any comet may well chance to be so directed as to carry it straight towards the very centre of the sun, instead of passing grazingly by his orb as did the comet of 1843. |