▪ I. seeing, vbl. n.
(ˈsiːɪŋ)
Forms: see the vb.
[f. see v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action (rarely an act) of the vb. see. Proverb: seeing is believing.
Often in phrase worth seeing (formerly † worth the seeing, worthy seeing).
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xvii. 88 Swa thai vroucht than That, but seying of ony man, Outane Sym of Spaldyne allane. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 171 The secund cause þat þe sacrament is vset in þe auter is, forto make man by ofte seynge to haue þe sadur mynde of Cristis passion in his hert. 1538–9 in Lit. Rem. Edw. VI (Roxb.) p. cclxiv, A cuppe gevon by my Lorde of Wynchester at his first seeyng of the Prince grace. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xlii. i, Ah, when comes my blessed being, Of thy face to have a seeing. 1629 Carliell Deserv. Favourite 534 Madame, will it please you walke into the gallery, There are some pictures will be worth your seeing. 1670 Ray Prov. 140 Seeing is believing. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 17 Aug. 1654, But most remarkable and worthy seeing is St. Peter's Cathedrall. 1712 J. Arbuthnot Lewis Baboon iv. 21 There's nothing like Matter of Fact; Seeing is Believing. 1756–7 Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 468 There is another church of the same name..which is also very well worth seeing. 1807 Wordsw. Ode Intimat. Immortality 156 Those shadowy recollections, Which, be they what they may,..Are yet a master-light of all our seeing. 1848 J. C. & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth 2nd Ser. 497 Seeing is believing, says the proverb... Though, of all our senses, the eyes are the most easily deceived, we believe them in preference to any other evidence. 1859 Ruskin Two Paths iv. §108 But your architectural designing leads you into no pleasant journeys,—into no seeing of lovely things. 1909 Times Lit. Suppl. 28 May 198/2 Seeing is believing;..only art can make history really credible, or a great name more than a label to an abstraction. 1975 A. Price Our Man in Camelot v. 84 ‘Show him the stuff.’.. ‘Okay. Maybe you're right... Seeing is believing, I guess.’ |
b. pl.
| 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow B. Introd. Ep. (1860) 13 A particular account of all my doings, or rather my seeings and thinkings. 1870 Athenæum 2 July 8 Enough would have remained, despite many errors, many seeings of things which cannot be seen, to leave the book..interesting. |
2. The faculty of seeing, sight, vision.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Mathou) 82 As to defe men þe herynge, & to blynd men þe seynge. 1426 Audelay Poems 7 Thi v. wyttis thou most know,..Thi heryng, thi seyng, as I the schewe [etc.]. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 8235 My helm hath rafft me my syyng And take a-way ek myn heryng. a 1704 Locke Elem. Nat. Phil. xi. (1754) 41 The organ of seeing is the eye. 1785 Reid Intell. Powers 520 Seeing and hearing by philosophers are called senses. 1820 Keats Isabella ii, He might not in house, field, or garden stir, But her full shape would all his seeing fill. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. i. 229 The range of seeing is different in different persons. 1897 Watts-Dunton Aylwin iv. iv, Hunger gives a new seeing to the eyes. |
3. Astr. The quality of telescopic observation; the extent to which a stellar image remains steady and free from twinkling, or a planetary image sharp.
In modern usage seeing is quantified as the apparent angular diameter of a point source as seen in a powerful telescope.
| 1903 Phil. Mag. V. 674 Observatories are put even on high mountains to get rid of the disturbances in this atmosphere, which tend to make the image of every object tremulous.., and to prevent what the astronomer terms ‘good seeing’. 1969 N. Calder Violent Universe 21 The best ‘seeing’ at any working observatory is said to be that at Cerro Tololo, in Chile. 1977 Nature 21 Apr. 693/2 The seeing during the observations was generally between 1{pp} and 2{pp}. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as † seeing power; seeing-glass (now dial.), a mirror; † seeing-shop nonce-wd., one's faculty of sight; † seeing-stone, a crystal used for scrying; also fig.
| 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding xii. (1611) 336 Now we see as thorow a *seeing glasse in a riddle: but then we shall see face to face. 1662 Hibbert Body of Div. i. 184 Men of repute are as seeing-glasses by which most men dresse them⁓selves. 1731 Inventory of G. Bamforth, Sheffield, A stand, a large seeing glass. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Seeing-glass, the old-fashioned term for a mirror, formerly a surface of polished metal. |
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xiv. 74 And ȝit what othere iȝen or *seing power hath God ȝouen to man⁓kinde forto therwith se, than which at sumtyme wolen faile and erre? |
| 1577–82 Breton Flourish Fancy, etc. (Grosart) 25/2 With that I winckte for feare, And shut the windowes of my *seeing shoppe. |
| 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers I. 295 A globe of crystal was employed by the Druids in their divinations as a *seeing-stone. Ibid., They must look into that true seeing-stone, the teaching of Christ's Church. |
▪ II. seeing, ppl. a.
(ˈsiːɪŋ)
Forms: see the vb.
[f. see v. + -ing2.]
1. That sees, in various senses of the vb.; having the faculty of sight; † discerning, possessing insight (obs.); † gifted as a seer.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 14804 Quen seand men him herd and sagh, Of him þam stod selcut gret agh. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xxx. 10 That seyn to men seende [1388 profetis], Wileth not see. 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. iv. 1386 ‘Thei that see’, he seyth, ‘shul be ful blynde’,..The seeynge men be-tokene ȝow, I-wis. 1592 Timme Ten Eng. Lepers B 1 b, So David had his seeing Gad to be his watchman. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. v. iii. §10 (191) Strange that a Foraigner should be more seeing herein, then any of our Native Authors and Records that I ever could behold. 1825 Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 5 This seeing light, this enlightening eye, is reflection. 1887 Athenæum 17 Dec. 818/3 The tendency is..for more and more seeing people to be imported into institutions, until at last they receive more wages than the blind people. |
2. seeing eye: in various senses of the vb. see, the faculty of seeing; seeing-eye dog (U.S.): a guide-dog trained to lead the blind.
Seeing eye is registered in the U.S. as a proprietary name for guide-dogs trained to lead the blind.
| 1921 P. Lubbock Craft of Fiction x. 146 The ‘seeing eye’ to which it is presented is not his, but the reader's own. 1930 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Off.) 26 Aug. 553/2 The Seeing Eye, Nashville, Tenn... The Seeing Eye for trained dogs. Claims use since Mar. 30, 1929. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 18 May 8/7 Many people..will be much moved by the story of how the first of the now famous ‘seeing-eye’ dogs has been carried by plane back to the Seeing Eye School at Morristown, N.J., there to spend its last days quietly. 1948 J. Cannan Little I Understood viii. 101, I don't pretend to be able to draw. I've just got the seeing eye. 1950 P. Bottome Under Skin xvi. 137 He had bought her [sc. a blind woman] a ‘Seeing Eye’ dog, who took her wherever she wished. 1969 K. M. Wells Owl Pen Reader ii. 210 You see, Grandpa had the seeing eye and grandma hadn't. 1979 ‘A. Hailey’ Overload iii. xiii. 267 The interior [of the bar] was dark and smelled of mildew. ‘Christ!’ Nancy said. ‘We need a seeing-eye dog.’ |
▪ III. seeing, quasi-conj.
(ˈsiːɪŋ)
[orig. the pres. pple. of see v.; the use in concord with the subject was developed into the conjunctional use as in considering, excepting, providing, supposing, etc. Cf. seen prep. and conj.
The first quot. is a doubtful or transitional example, as the pple. admits of being construed as in concord with the subject, in the sense ‘recognizing, perceiving’. The development of the conjunctional use may have been aided by the similarity of sound with sen, sin conj.]
seeing that, hence ellipt. seeing: considering the fact that; inasmuch as; since, because. Also (colloq.) with as (how).
| 1503 Paston Lett. III. 401, I wol..exhorte you to take it as..paciently as ye can, seeyng that we al be mortal and borne to dey. 1526 Tindale John ii. 18 What token shewest thou vnto vs, seynge that thou dost these thinges? [So most later versions.] 1537 Cranmer in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 77 As towching the house of the Charterhouse I pray..that it may be turned into a better use (seing it is in the face of the world). 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. ii. 36 Of all the Wonders that I yet haue heard, It seemes to me most strange that men should feare, Seeing that death..Will come, when it will come. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 17 The Top-mast being aloft the Ship..maketh better way.., seeing we have Sea-Room. 1711 Puckle Club (1817) 35 Seeing Great Britain affords so many lawyers,..he is doubly a fool that..applies himself to a scab. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 578 It must be of importance to accustom young people to it [sc. vegetable diet], seeing it's influence is..so happy on beauty of person and tranquillity of soul. 1833 Dickens Let. 18 Mar. (1965) I. 17 Seeing as I cannot fail to do that I have engaged in a pursuit. 1842 Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 94 Deep harm to disobey, Seeing obedience is the bond of rule. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, Which isn't to be wondered at, seeing that he has just finished six weeks of examination work. 1895 Dialect Notes I. 399 Seein' as how it's you, I'll do so-and-so. 1952 M. Laski Village vii. 121, I suppose—seeing as how we've both been let down—you wouldn't care to come in with me? 1974 S. Gulliver Vulcan Bulletins 29 Seeing as how you're always short of {pstlg}sd, I thought you could maybe earn a bit. |