▪ I. fogging, vbl. n.1
(ˈfɒgɪŋ)
[f. fog v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of the vb.: spec. (see quot. 1804).
| 1804 A. Young Farmer's Calendar 325 Fogging..consists in keeping the whole growth of grass in upland meadows..free from either scythe or stock..and eating it in the following winter. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 484 There is an ancient practice respecting grass lands in some of the Welch counties, called fogging,—or keeping the land without stock from May or June to December. 1883 N. & Q. 10 Nov. 377 Cattle turned out in the winter season to find a precarious subsistence in the fields are said to ‘go a-fogging’. |
▪ II. fogging, vbl. n.2
(ˈfɒgɪŋ)
[f. fog v.2 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. in various senses. Also used attrib. (= fog-signalling), as fogging duty, fogging post.
| 1854 Jrnl. Photogr. Soc. 21 Jan. 163/2 Another secondary cause of ‘fogging’..is the diffused light reflected from the top, bottom and sides of the camera. 1878 Besant & Rice Celia's Arb. vii. (1887) 56 Some strange fogging of his enthusiastic brain. 1883 Gd. Words Nov. 722/1 Without dust ‘fogging’ is impossible. 1889 W. M. Acworth Railways Eng. vii. 320 Again, ‘fogging’ is never resorted to merely to protect goods trains. 1898 Daily News 5 Jan. 2 A platelayer..proceeding to his post on ‘fogging’ duty, was knocked down. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 5 Nov. 12/1 At the different fogging posts on their system. 1907 Ibid. 29 Oct. 9/1 The light of the home signal was out when he arrived at his fogging post. |
2. Theatr. (See quot.)
| 1889 Barrère & Leland Slang, Fogging, getting through one's part anyhow, like a man lost in a fog. |
▪ III. fogging, vbl. n.3 Nail trade.
(ˈfɒgɪŋ)
[Cf. fogger n.1 3.]
(See quot.)
| 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Fogging, the system by which small employers in the nail and chain trade..make their profits by paying their workpeople less than the recognised price, and by selling their work..to the larger employers. |