▪ I. greening, n.
(ˈgriːnɪŋ)
[f. green a. + -ing3. In sense 1 cf. hasting. Cf. MDu. groeninc, Du. groening kind of apple.]
1. The name of a fruit. † a. A variety of pear. Also greening-pear. Obs.
| 1600 Surflet Country Farme iii. xlix. 537 Garden, tender or delicate peares such as are the..hasting, mollart, greening, butter peare [etc.]. 1611 Cotgr., Poire de verdelet, the Greening; a tender and delicate Peare. 1632 Sherwood, s.v., A greening peare, verdelet. |
b. An apple, which is green when ripe.
| 1664 Evelyn Pomona iv. 13 Russetings and Greenings. 1676 Worlidge Cyder (1691) 210 The Greening is also another old English fruit of a green colour. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 59 Winter Sauce Apples..Yorkshire greening. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 474 Winthrop Greening..Rhode Island Greening. |
2. = greenery 2.
| 1895 Daily News 24 June 7/1 Horses' heads are crowned with greening. |
▪ II. greening, vbl. n.
(ˈgriːnɪŋ)
[f. green v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of green v.1 in various senses.
1. The action or process of becoming green or covered with verdure.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16867 On þe morn o þat grening, Þe tre als ar was dri. 1817 Keats Sleep & Poetry 171 The tender greening Of April meadows. 1883 Stallybrass tr. Grimm's Teut. Myth. III. 959 note, The withering or greening of a tree is bound up with the fate of a country. |
2. a. The process of rendering green or imparting a green colour, as in Plumbing (see green v.1 2 c), Pickling, Oyster-culture, etc.
| 16.. [see green v.1 2 b]. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 195 This Greening is only rubbing it with some green Vegetable; it matters not what..and..the Sodder..by reason of the Greening easily peel'd off. 1806 A. Hunter Culina (ed. 3) 83 Whenever the juice of spinage is used for greening. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 184/2 The fattening and greening of the oysters. |
b. concr.
| 1892 Encycl. Cookery (ed. Garrett) I. 719 Greening, a vegetable colouring matter made by expressing the juice of spinach. Occasionally used in confectionery and for other culinary purposes. |
c. In sense of green v.1 3.
| 1879 Boy's Own Paper 18 Jan. 3/2 Leave to others the shamming, The ‘greening’ and ‘cramming’, In fun and in earnest, be true, boys! 1907 Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 3/3 The method of ‘greening’ is the schoolboy trick of making a statement which is a fabrication and getting another boy to believe it. |
3. attrib. † greening pit, a pit in which oysters are ‘greened’ (see green v.1 2 b); † greening weed, a plant used for dyeing green; = greenweed.
| 16.. *Greening pit [see green v.1 2 b]. |
| 1588 L. M. tr. Bk. Dyeing 18 Put therein two pound of *grening weede. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., If urine, citron-juice, or spirit of vitriol, be cast on a green ribband, it becomes blue; by reason the yellow of the greening-weed is thereby exhaled and consumed; so that nothing but blue remains behind. 1761 J. White Art's Treasury 6. |
Sense 3 in Dict. becomes 5. Add: [2.] d. The process or result of planting or cultivating greenery, esp. as part of a programme of urban revitalization. Also with up.
| 1955 Greening Movement in Japan (Jap. Forestry Agency) i. 1 It was necessary that a powerful organization on a nationwide scale should carry out a thoroughgoing reforestation movement, aimed at the greening not only of forests, but also of war-destroyed cities, parks and schoolyards. 1983 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Oct. 1077/2 George Sand welcomed the greening of Paris as the true creation of the time. 1986 Independent 17 Nov. 4 A report..is expected to identify the need for..a widespread programme of ‘greening up’ in the area. 1987 Observer 8 Feb. 2/7 The Forest of London—a huge ‘greening’ project aimed at transforming the capital's derelict inner city sites—is to be launched later this year. |
e. spec. The reclamation of desert or barren land through a system of irrigation and drainage.
| 1972 Coal Age Feb. 87 ‘The greening of West Virginia’... The act of returning an area to stable and productive use. 1978 Washington Post 21 Dec. a27/1 The greening of the deserts is powered by a host of canals. 1984 World Paper Nov. 8/1 Among GIF's projects are the greening of deserts in the Sahara, the Sinai and the Arabian peninsula. 1990 Summary of World Broadcasts: Weekly Econ. Rep. (B.B.C.) 13 Feb. iv. p. a1/5/2 Two million tons of waste from wells in the Fezzan area will flow daily to homes in the Libyan capital. The water will also be used in irrigation for the greening of the Sahara. |
3. fig. Rejuvenation, renewal, esp. after a period of stagnation or decay; an instance of this. orig. and chiefly U.S.
| 1970 C. A. Reich Greening of Amer. (1971) xii. 329 For one who thought the world was irretrievably encased in metal and plastic and sterile stone, it seems a veritable greening of America. 1979 Dædalus Winter 104 After years of ‘greening’ unrest, American society has turned conservative again. 1984 J. Lawton All Amer. War Game p. viii, Television and gambling are the two other crucial elements..in the greening of football. 1988 Tower Records' Top Feb. 32/1 The band produced the most eclectic material prior to the greening of Nick Lowe. |
4. The process or result of making or becoming aware of ecological issues, or of espousing environmentalism. Freq. in political contexts.
| 1986 Guardian 25 Mar. 21/8 An analysis [in the White Paper]..argues that there are major..advantages in recognising new national and international pressures for a ‘greening’ of all departmental policies. 1988 Daily Tel. (Weekend Suppl.) 10 Sept. p. vii/3 Both Paddy Ashdown and Alan Beith stressed the importance of the environmental element to the party's future... We hope it goes beyond the superficial greening seen so far. 1989 Times 5 May 23/2 There was no sudden ‘greening’ of Du Pont... Du Pont won a 1987 gold medal for environmental achievement. 1990 Sunday Correspondent (Colour Suppl.) 22 Apr. 23/3 It is Sir Crispin Tickell..who became the key influence in the Johnny-come-lately greening of Mrs. Thatcher. |
▪ III. ˈgreening, ppl. a.1
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. Growing or becoming green.
| 1800 Monthly Mag. IX. 465 The war-steed's hoof-mark hide with greening ears, Twine round the elm once more the trampled vine! 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 24 The greening plain. 1835 Tennyson Early Spring ii, From skies of glass A Jacob's ladder falls On greening grass. 1850 ― In Mem. cxli, Where now the seamew pipes, or dives In yonder greening gleam. 1858 Bailey Age 52 Slowly greening woods Make dim the distant view. |
2. That causes to become green.
| 1846 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. ii. 494 The sun's scorching and greening influence. |
▪ IV. greening, vbl. n.2 and ppl. a.2
see green v.2