wadding, vbl. n.
(ˈwɒdɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
1. The action of wad v.1
| 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 14 Sept. 1776, Whether the crop be thick or thin, Wadding puts it equally out of harm's way. |
2. concr. Any soft, pliable material from which gun-wads are made; also, a wad.
| 1627 Capt. J. Smith Sea Gram. xiv. 66 Waddings is Okum, old clouts, or straw, put after the powder and the Bullet. 1664 Pepys Diary 8 Nov., To the Office of the Ordnance, to discourse about wadding for guns. 1742 Phil. Trans. XLII. 175 The Waddings used in all these..Experiments, were of thick Leather cut round, to fit the Bore of the Piece. 1815 Croker in Croker Papers (1884) I. iii. 73 The whole of the extent..was strewed with the cartridges and waddings of the cannon. 1833 Reg. Instr. Cavalry i. 31 The recruit is to be instructed..to ram the paper, as wadding, home. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. liv, I found the wadding of the pistol with which the deceased Mr. Tulkinghorn was shot. |
3. Any loose, fibrous material for use as a padding, stuffing, quilting, etc. Now chiefly, cotton-wool formed into a fleecy layer.
| 1734 Grub St. Jrnl. 2 May 4/1 Handsome Gowns for Ladies, with Silk Waddings. 1737 Dyche & Pardon Dict., Wadding, a thin, coarse, woollen Manufacture made to line Men's Morning Gowns, the Plaits of their Coats, &c. 1755 Johnson, Wadding, a kind of soft stuff loosely woven, with which the skirts of coats are stuffed out. 1784 Cowper Task i. 31 A generation more refin'd Improv'd the simple plan;..And o'er the seat, with plenteous wadding stuff'd, Induc'd a splendid cover. 1802 M. Cutler in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888) II. 113, I presented him a specimen of wadding for Ladies' cloaks. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts s.v., Wadding [for garments] is now made with a lap or fleece of cotton prepared by the carding-engine, which is applied to tissue paper by a coat of size. 1865 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 493 A small ball of cotton wool or wadding enclosed in a piece of linen rag. 1902 Hannan Textile Fibres 54 The raw material..when beaten out soft is used for wadding in clothing and coverlets. 1904 Woollen Draper's Terms in Tailor & Cutter 4 Aug. 480/2 Wadding; A loose fibrous material made of cotton waste; one side is finished with paper face; used for padding purposes. |
| fig. 1846 Landor Imag. Conv., Diogenes & Plato Wks. I. 455/1 Aristoteles, and all the rest of you, must have the wadding of straw and saw-dust shaken out, and then we shall know pretty nearly your real weight and magnitude. |