▪ I. brimming, vbl. n.1
(ˈbrɪmɪŋ)
[f. brim v.1]
The action of the verb brim1: said of swine.
| 1530 Palsgr. 824/2 A brimmyng as a bore or sowe doth, en rouyt. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 230 They stand lightly to the first brimming. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm i. xxiv. 106 They begin to grow hot and goe a brimming. 1671 Charente Let. Customs Tafiletta 46 The wild Boars are most furious creatures, especially in Brimmin time. |
▪ II. brimming, vbl. n.2
(ˈbrɪmɪŋ)
[f. brim v.3 + -ing1.]
Being full to the brim, overflowing.
| 1837 H. Martineau Soc. in Amer. III. 73 The gushing talk of Judge Story, the brimmings of a full head and heart. 1878 G. Meredith in Macm. Mag. Oct., Something friends have told her fills her heart to brimming. |
▪ III. ˈbrimming, ppl. a.
[f. brim v.3 + -ing2.]
1. That rises to the brim of its vessel, basin, or bed; that fills to overflowing.
| 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 336 They..in the rinde, Still as they thirsted, scoop the brimming stream. 1857 Emerson Poems 42 The brimming brook invites a leap. 1864 Tennyson Brook 64 And out again I curve and flow, To join the brimming river. |
| fig. 1864 Spectator 424 All true poetry really requires a brimming vitality of feeling and impression. |
2. Of a vessel: Brim-full, full to overflowing.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 43 To store the Dairy, with a brimming Pail. 1725 Pope Odyss. xx. 317 Wine rosy bright the brimming goblets crowned. 1845 Disraeli Sybil (1863) 48 To fill the brimming cup. |
3. advb.
| 1848 W. E. Aytoun Danube & Eux. 10, I am brimming full and red. |