felling, vbl. n.
(ˈfɛlɪŋ)
[f. fell v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action or an act of cutting down (timber); concr. the quantity cut down. In quot. 1654 gerundially with omission of in.
| 1543 Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 17 §1 Such Standils..as have been left there standing at any the felling of the same Coppice Woods. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia v. 194 The felling of marked trees appointed for bounds. 1651 R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 47 They every felling cut down the standers, which they left the felling before. 1654 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 302 Saw my Lord Craven's house..now in ruins, his goodly woods felling by the rebels. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 109 No other cost but felling and lading. 1884 Sir E. Fry in Law Reports 28 Ch. Div. 231 They have treated the..fellings of larch trees as income to be paid to the tenant. |
† b. ?concr. A clearing. Obs. (If this be the sense, the word in quot. is due to misinterpretation of fell = mountain, in an earlier text.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2832 (Gött.) Make ȝe in þe plain na duelling, Til ȝe bi comen to ȝone felling. |
† 2. Sc. ‘Lowering, down-bringing; abatement, deduction’ (Jam. Supp.). Obs. Cf. fell v. 5.
| c 1300 Stat. Gilde xxviii. in Anc. Laws Burghs Scot. 77 Pacabit mercatori a quo predicta emerat secundum forum prius factum sine felling uel herlebreking. |
3. (See fell v. 6.)
| 1841 Lady Wilton Art of Needlework (ed. 3) xx. 317 There are..hemming—felling—and basting. 1875 Plain Needlework 11 Here are taught hemming..felling, and fixing. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as felling-axe, felling-machine, felling-saw, felling-time; felling-bird, the Wryneck (Yunx torquilla).
| 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 244 For a grete fellyng axe. 1549 Privy Council Acts ii. (1890) 350 Felling axes, l: hatchetes, l. Ibid. 349 Felling axes, iiij dousen. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 109 The best way is at felling⁓time to new cut them. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2675/3, 20 Men with Felling Axes. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Felling-saw. 1877 N. W. Linc. Gloss., Felling axe, an axe with a long and narrow head used for felling trees. 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Felling-bird..its note being first heard about the time..when oaks are felled. |