[-ING1.] The action of the verb WADE.
c. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 56. Bot sum men sais, this eschaping Apon ane other maner fell Than throu the vading.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea, lii. 124. Wherof more then the one halfe dyed with famine, and continual wading through Rivers and waters.
1813. [Leigh Hunt], in Examiner, 19 April, 242/2. So many creepings in dust and wadings through mire.
1870. Kingsley, in Good Words, 1 June, 380/2. We were glad to cool ourselves [in fancy] by talking over … wadings in icy streams beneath the black pine-woods.
b. attrib. as in wading-place; also in names of waterproof articles of attire for wading, as wading-boots, -brogues, coats, etc.
1598. Florio, Vadetti, narrow wading places or foards.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 58. Wading Stockings. Wading Trousers. Wading Brogues. Wading Coats. Wading Boots.
1888. W. E. Norris, Chris, vi. 98. Prawning is not bad fun for those who have taken the precaution to put on wading-boots, but it is a form of sport in which ladies can hardly participate with comfort.
1894. Coconino Weekly Sun, 25 Oct., 6/6. With a good pair of wading boots, you may skirt the strand, stalking the game from behind the screening osiers and alders on the bank.
