▪ I. † soiling, n. Obs.—0
[app. for siling, f. sile v.1 2.]
(See quot.)
| 1573–80 Baret Alv., A Soiling, a great opening, or gaping of the earth, as it were a deepnesse without bottome. |
▪ II. soiling, vbl. n.1
(ˈsɔɪlɪŋ)
[f. soil v.1]
1. a. The action of making or becoming dirty, tarnished, or stained. Also fig.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Salissure, fouling, soyling. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. iv. (1627) 29 To keepe their bookes from soyling, or marring under their hands. 1635–56 Cowley Davideis i. 871 Thus Souls live cleanly, and no Soiling fear. 1643 Milton Divorce ii. xix, Which..is rather a soiling then a fulfilling of mariage-rites. 1809 Naval Chron. XXII. 277 To remove any soiling it might have received. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 530 Thus avoiding soiling of the glass. |
b. Defecation (usu. when caused by incontinence or stress in a patient or child).
| 1943 Our Towns (Women's Group on Public Welfare) iii. 83 Some evacuated children were guilty of deliberate wetting and soiling. 1960 I. Bennett Delinquent & Neurotic Children iii. 113 Faecal incontinence, and soiling episodes. 1980 Jrnl. R. Soc. Med. LXXIII. 217 The affected children themselves are liable to behavioural problems such as temper tantrums, soiling and school refusal. |
2. spec. (See soil v.1 5 and 6.) Also attrib.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 2 Peter II. 19 The sowe hath washed..in vayne, if she by and by after she is washen, returne to the soylinges that she had gone from. |
| 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rur. Sports 82/2 The deer's haunt is called his lair;..where he rolls, his soiling-pool. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer vi. 102 They have their regular ‘soiling-pits’—watery places or shallow ponds. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 18 Aug. 3/1 ‘Soiling,’ or taking water, less frequently results in throwing hounds off the scent. |
▪ III. † ˈsoiling, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[f. soil v.2]
1. Assoilment, absolution.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 29535 Gain cursing gode all es be-warr, And if þou wat þou ert þair-in His soilling seke wit-vten blin. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 481 Whanne þer soyling & þer bynding acordide wiþ god in heuene. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 67 Þerfor þe causis are to be peysid, and þan power of bynding and soiling is to be vsid. 1529 More Suppl. Souls Wks. 290 Blessing and cursing, cyting, suspending and soyling. |
2. Solution, explanation, answering.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 386 Þanne he putte in dede soilyng of þis questioun. 1388 ― Dan. iv. 3 Thei schulden schewe to me the soilyng of the dreem. c 1500 Three Priests Peblis in Pinkerton Sc. Poems (1792) I. 11 Desyrand for to wit the solyeing Of this questioun, this probleame, and this dout. c 1530 L. Cox Rhet. (1899) 64 Confutacion is the soilynge of suche argumentes as maye be induced agaynste our purpose. 1548 Geste Priv. Masse 113 The soylyng of these two last recited scryptures. |
▪ IV. ˈsoiling, vbl. n.3 ? Obs.
[f. soil v.3]
1. The action of treating land with manure or compost; manuring, dunging.
| 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. iii. 112 Any Tin-mines,..Marle, or Chalke-pits, slimie or moorish earth, fit for soyling of land. 1665 Voy. E. India 362 Which..doth so enrich their Land, which they never force..by Soyling of it. 1696 J. Cary Ess. Coyn 28 Well manured Lands, whose plentiful Crops do soon repay the Charge of Soiling laid out on them. |
2. Manure; droppings of animals.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art Surv. i. x. 26 Plinie reports that Ashes are in such request for soylings neere vnto Po, that they burne their Horse-dung to make them. 1626 Bacon Natural Hist. §666 That Powdring [sc. dust], when a Shower commeth, maketh a kinde of Soyling to the Tree. 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts I. 148 All of these, together with the subsequent soilings of the sheep, left the land in admirable condition. |
▪ V. ˈsoiling, vbl. n.4
[f. soil v.4]
1. The action or practice of feeding horses, cows, etc., on fresh-cut green fodder, originally in order to cause purgation.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 330 For this purgation is most necessary for Horsses, which is called soyling, and ought to continue ten daies together, without any other meat. 1770 Pennant Brit. Zool. IV. 48 They [sc. Persian horses] are fed with chopped straw,..and instead of soiling, are fed with new-eared or green barley. 1799 Washington Writ. (1893) XIV. 225 For spring, summer, and autumn, it is expected, that soiling of them on green food..will enable them to perform their work. 1832 Scoreby Farm Rep. 27 in Husb. (L.U.K.) III, By the practice of soiling, an arable farm may be made to support as much live stock as a grazing one. 1893 Times 11 July 4/1 Oats put in [among rye] promptly would give food for soiling or cutting in the autumn. |
| attrib. 1840 Penny Cycl. XXII. 193/1 Those countries where the soiling system is most universally adopted. |
2. dial. (See quot.)
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Soiling, the last fattening food given to fowls when they are taken up from the stack or barn-door, and cooped for a few days. |
▪ VI. ˈsoiling, vbl. n.5
[f. soil n.1]
The action of covering with soil. Also techn. (quot. 1876).
| 1794 Wedge View Agric. Cheshire 21 Soiling with the plough is thus performed:..the ground..is split, or turned both ways upon the young plants. 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 280/2 A thin layer of ashes..is spread over the surface [of the hardened malm in brick-making] (this process being technically called soiling). |
▪ VII. soiling, ppl. a.1
(ˈsɔɪlɪŋ)
[f. soil v.1]
That stains or soils; polluting, defiling.
| 1812 Cary Dante, Purg. xxx. 52 To save My undew'd cheeks from blur of soiling tears. 1820 Clare Poems Rural Life (ed. 3) 120 From soiling dew the butter-cup Shuts his golden jewels up. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. lxvii, Dreading the soiling inferences of his mind. |
▪ VIII. † soiling, ppl. a.2 Obs.—1
[f. soil v.2]
Of the nature of a refutation; confuting.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xviii. 255 To make a cleer soiling answere to the xiij⊇ argument. |