[f. WATER v. + -ING1.] I. The action of the verb WATER.
† 1. The action of carrying water. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 222. Þæt Israhela folc ʓeðafode þæt sume ða hæðenan on heora ðeowte leofodon, to wudunge and to wæterunge on ðam widʓillan lande.
a. 1300. [see watering vessel in 21].
2. The action (or an act) of pouring or sprinkling water on plants, crops or the soil.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 304. Syððan hi [sc. ða wyrta] growende beoð he ʓeswycð þære wæterunge.
c. 1425. Found. St. Bartholomew’s, II. Prol. ii. (1886), 79. As it were a plante whan yt is wele y rotyd, the ofte wateryng or hym cesith.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 140. And yeue hem [the plants] in the hete a watteringe.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 101. Now set doo aske watering with pot or with dish.
1786. Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 63. Light waterings when the earth is dry.
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 166/2. Indiscriminate watering would ruin half the plants.
fig. a. 1633. G. Herbert, Outlandish Prov. (1640), 581. Folly growes without watering.
3. The action (or an act) of soaking or steeping in water or of impregnating with a liquor.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xcv. (1495), 662. Some legumina … ben made swete and sauouri wyth good watryng.
1557. Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), I. 298. [An overseer] to foresee that neither the yarne be burnt in tarring, nor the hempe rotted in the watering.
1699. T. Allison, Voy. Archangel, 30. I caused the Fish that hung overboard for watering, to be hauled in. Ibid., 49. The night past we lost 13 pieces of Beef, as they hung a watering.
1827. Steuart, Planter’s Guide (1828), 499. The liquid is to be drawn off in slablepails, and poured leisurely over the heap. As soon as it has … got two complete waterings, it is to be turned and thoroughly mixed.
4. An inundation, fooding or irrigation.
1594. R. Ashley, trans. Loys le Roy, 36 b. And much profitable to those which dwell neere it, by the waterings and other commodities which they receiue of it.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xxii. 187 (bis). The which doth grow in very hote vallies, where there are waterings.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln, 276. The river … has on its banks a range of low ground, highly capable of watering at a very small expence; but not one acre done.
5. The application of water to a road, etc., in order to lay the dust.
1673. Humours Town, 120. All the Wat’ring scarce being able to lay the Dust the Horses and Coaches raise.
1885. Law Rep., 14 Q. B. D. 891. The defendants employed inspectors to superintend the watering of their streets.
6. The action of giving drinking-water to cattle, horses, etc.; also, the action (of an animal) of going to the water to drink.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 518/1. Watrynge, or ȝevynge drynke to beestys, adaquacio.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 120. It is good also to obserue due times for his feeding, his watering, and his trauayle.
1611. Bible, Luke xiii. 15. Doeth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his oxe or his asse from the stall, and leade him away to watering?
1697. Dryden, Æneis, XI. 747. Thus … The wanton Courser … seeks his wat’ring in the well known Flood, To quench his Thirst.
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xx. The horses were being led out to watering.
1908. Animal Management (War Office), 277. Somali camels are accustomed to go several days without watering.
† b. transf. (A person’s) act of drinking. Obs.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 17. When you breath in your watering, then they [sc. ale-drawers] cry hem, and bid you play it off.
† c. A light refreshment between meals. Obs.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Elder Bro., I. ii. He … dines with Tully, takes his watering with the Muses, sups with Livy.
7. Scots Law. (See quot.)
1681. Stair, Inst. Law Scot., I. xvii. § 11. 345. Watering is a Servitude of taking water, proper to one Ground for the use of another, whether it be for the Cattel of the dominant Ground, which is most ordinary, or for other uses thereof.
8. The action of procuring fresh water for a ship.
1613. J. Saris, Voy. Japan (Hakl. Soc.), 68. The 29th we made an ende of watring, hauing taken in 36 Tonnes, and good store of Wood.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 9. Building a Tent, to shelter the People who were to be employ’d in Watering.
1914. D. G. Browne, in Blackw. Mag., April, 493/1. On Friday 11th, his watering completed and the weather less boisterous, Herbert was out again and cruising as directed along the north coast of Jamaica.
9. The action or process of giving a ‘watered’ appearance to the surface of a material. Cf. 20.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 9. The surfaces of those threads that run the long way, are by the Mechanical process of watering, creas’d or angled in another kind of posture then they were by the weaving.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 140. Moiré Watering, by other Methods.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1280. Watering of stuffs (Moirage, Fr.); is a process to which silk and other textile fabrics are subjected.
1841. H. Wilkinson, Engines of War, 200. The Jowher, or watering, of the genuine Damascus blades, I conceive to have been originally produced by two principal causes: first, [etc.].
1859. Abridg. Specif. Patents Paper, etc., II. 23. Fabrics … for ornamenting walls. An effect called ‘watering’ may be produced by pressing and ‘bruising’ two thicknesses, together between heated rollers.
1887. F. Pollock, in Encycl. Brit., XXII. 803/2. The ‘damascening’ or ‘watering’ of choice Persian and Indian arms.
10. Dilution with water.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 July, 12/1. Indian and Ceylon teas … are stronger and stand more watering.
1892. J. M. Walsh, Tea, 133. In the milk business the most prevalent Sophistications are watering and skimming.
1896. Conan Doyle, Rodney Stone, v. Six drops to the half-pint seems a sinful watering of grog.
fig. 1889. Spectator, 14 Dec., 848. But is not a great deal of that broadening [of their faith] a watering down of the authority of Christianity to pure humanism?
11. Dilution of the capital of a trading company.
1884. Christian World, 13 March, 193/5. Nor has the management ever been charged with any watering of stock.
1893. Nation (N. Y.), 27 April, 307/3. While doubling the partnership value is legitimate, doubling the shares of a corporation without payment for them is ‘watering.’
12. The action of ‘taking the waters.’
1765. G. Williams, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1843), I. 403. I shall have completed my watering [at Brighthelmstone] by the Sunday following.
13. Running (of the eyes); † filling with tears.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2167. Thus carpes the kyng to his clene childur, With weping and wo, wateryng of ene, Sobbyng and sikyng.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 428/1. Delachrymatio,… the watering of the eyes.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 274. A droppe or two thereof dropped into the eyes, cureth the dropping or watering of them.
1684. J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 22. If your Cattel are trobld with a Feavour or Ague, you shall discover it by the watering of their eyes.
1879. St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 483. There was some watering of and photophobia in the left [eye].
14. Salivation of the teeth, mouth, or ‘chops,’ induced by the thought or anticipation of appetizing food.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XII. i. I. 357. He … brought over with him drie Figs and Raisons: the first fruits also as it were of Oile and Wine for a tast, to set their teeth a watering.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, xiii. 13. A Certain Fox spy’d out a Raven upon a Tree with a Morsel in his mouth, that set his Chops a watering.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 26. 3/1. Which … will keep your hungry Chops from Wat’ring.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 283. A form of salivation, which in its exaggeration resembles ‘the watering of the chops’ of a healthy appetite, is … ‘water-brash.’
fig. 1690. Dryden, Amphitryon, I. ii. You keep such a billing and colling here, to set ones Mouth a watring.
1691. Locke, Money, Wks. 1727, II. 37. Those who contend for four per Cent. have found out a way to set Mens Mouths a watering for Money at that rate.
II. Concrete senses.
† 15. A place where horses and cattle are taken to drink. Chiefly as in b. Obs.
1578. H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 305. Saying he woulde neither eate nor drinke, but with the Gentleman his man, who scarcely had caried his horse so far as to the watering.
† b. St. Thomas (a, of) Watering(s: the name of a place two miles from London on the pilgrims road to Canterbury, near to a brook at which horses were watered. Until the 17th c. it was the place of public executions for Surrey; hence often in allusive use (cf. TYBURN). Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 826. And forth we riden, a livel moore than paas Vn to the wateryng of Seint Thomas.
c. 1420. Brut, 380. And so þe King and his prysoners passyd forth by ham, til he come vnto Seint Thomas watryng.
1532. [G. Walker], Dice Play (Vele), D v b. You thinke they come home by Tiburne, or S. Thomas of Watrings, and so they do in dede.
1561. New Enterl. Q. Hester, 542. I pray god they may spede, Euen as honestly, As he that from stelyng, goth to sent thomas watryng In his yong age.
1615. J. Taylor (Water P.), Cast over Water, Wks. (1630), II. 162/1. He at S. Thomas Wat’rings may goe swing.
1630. B. Jonson, New Inn, I. iii. To which, if he apply him, He may … come to read a lecture Vpon Aquinas at S. Thomas a Waterings, And so goe forth a Laureat in hempe circle!
† c. Supply of water for cattle. Obs. rare.
1773. Boston Gaz., 5 April, 4/2. Said Farm … contains near Ninety Acres of Land which abounds with excellent Watering, Pasturing, Mowing, [etc.].
† 16. A well, spring, or other place where water is obtained for domestic use. Obs.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, I. lxxxix. Cedron, Bethsaida, and each watring els Empoison’d he, both fountains, springs and wels.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, II. xiv. 159. Their washing is with great scrupulosity, in a common watering or in priuate cesternes, or fountaines.
† 17. A place where vessels obtain a supply of fresh water. Obs.
1582. N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., I. iii. 8. The Captaine Generall … came to the Watering of Saynt Blaze, which is three score leagues beyonde the Cape.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1756/1. The best Water, and the most commodious Watering of any place upon this Coast.
† 18. Water for irrigation. Obs.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, II. liv. 380. But that such watering may be conueighed in best sort for their growth, it must be prouided and brought by some lowe conduct.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 51. The Rain or other Waterings dissolve the Salts of the Earth.
19. A ditch for draining a marsh; ? the tract drained by such a ditch.
1790. Phil. Trans., LXXX. 128, note. A manuscript map [of Romney Marsh] … where the names and boundaries of the waterings … are very distinctly expressed.
1877. L. J. Jennings, Field Paths, i. 4. It is necessary to keep much to the right … for the ‘waterings’ are wide and numerous, and it is very easy to lose … time … on these marshes [of Winchelsea and Rye].
20. The wavy, variegated appearance given to silk, metal, etc. = MOIRÉ 2. Cf. 9.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, I. III. 77. When others [Cardinals] had their Caps of Red, they had theirs of water’d Chamblet, and when others wore their Purple, theirs was without watering.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 727. Metallic Watering, or for Blanc Moire.
1860. Ure’s Dict. Arts, etc. (ed. 5), III. 195. The bold waterings … depend not only on the quality of the silk, but greatly on the way in which they are folded when subjected to the enormous pressure in watering.
III. 21. attrib. and Comb., as watering-bucket, -hole, -party, -pit, -pond, -pool, -tank, -time, -trough, tub, -vessel.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Watering-bucket. In the United States service the regulation bucket is made of solid leather.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 146. Appoint a place for washing clothes clear of the *watering hole.
1850. R. G. Cumming, Hunter’s Life S. Afr. (1902), 98/1. When the natives had constructed a number of water-bags … a *watering party was despatched with these.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Abreuadero, a poole, a *watering pit.
1870. N. F. Hele, Aldeburgh, vii. 76. Near the *watering pond I observed a hawk of this species.
1539. MSS. Dk. Rutland (Hist. MSS. Comm.), IV. 294. The *wateryng powles in the parke.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 833. The proper construction of a watering-pool is sadly misunderstood in this country.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., VII. 14. Your lowing Heyfars, of their own accord, At *wat’ring time will seek the neighb’ring Ford.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxx. 38. He set the rods … before the flockes in the gutters in the *watering troughes when the flocks came to drinke.
1908. Animal Management (War Office), 129. Watering troughs should be of sufficient height to prevent restless animals pawing over the rim.
1790. Act 31 Geo. III., c. 17 § 20. Provided always, That previous to any … *Watering Tub or Trough, Pump, Stall, or other Projection, being taken down,… Notice shall be given.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15189. A man þar yow sal mete, A *watrin vescel in his hand.
22. Special comb.: watering-bridle, a bridle with a snaffle-bit, used chiefly when taking a horse to be watered; also attrib.; watering-call Mil. (see quot.); watering-can = WATERING-POT 1; † watering cap, a cavalryman’s fatigue cap; watering-cart = WATER-CART; † watering-house, an inn or public house where stage coachmen and hackney coachmen may obtain water for their horses and refreshment for themselves; † watering man = WATERMAN 4; watering order Mil., the order in which cavalry are drawn up when going to water their horses; watering-pan = WATERING-POT; † watering saddle, a saddle used by cavalry when riding their horses to water; watering slip, a causeway sloping down into a river, for watering cattle, etc.; watering snaffle, cf. watering-bridle; watering stone, ? a water-trough or a fountain; † watering-table = WATER-TABLE 1.
1502. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 347. Item, for tua small *watering bridillis in Jedworth, ij s.
1680. Lond. Gaz., No. 1583/4. A watering bridle and snaffle.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 383/2. Watering bridle-bits or snaffles.
1853. Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl., *Watering-Call, a trumpet sounding, on which the cavalry assemble to water their horses.
1692. Sir J. Foulis, Acc. Bk. (S.H.S.), 147. For a whyt iron *watering kan to ye yard, 2 0 0.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., 1143. Introducing … the strong lye of crude soda, through the rose spout of a watering-can.
1851. B’ham & Midl. Gardeners’ Mag., May, 70. As the plants now cover the tops of the pots,… there will be a greatly increased demand for the watering-can.
1836. Southey, Cowper’s Wks., VII. 265. He was returning … from an evening drill of the regiment of volunteer cavalry,… being dressed accordingly in a flannel jacket, with a *watering cap.
1764. Museum Rust., II. 73. A *watering-cart, not unlike those with which the roads near London are watered.
1919. Glasgow Herald, 21 April, 7. Watering carts, conducted by Indian soldiers, are also spraying the roads.
1801. trans. Gabrielle’s Mysterious Husb., II. 240. The numerous *watering-houses upon the Kentish road, where postillions and stage coachmen generally refresh their horses.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Streets—Night. Watermen … who have been … rushing about for the last two hours, retire to their watering-houses.
1815. Sporting Mag., XLV. 185. The Inspectors are to see that all the *watering men wear their badges or numbers.
1892. Daily News, 28 Sept., 3/5. The regiment … quitted the Spital Barracks early in the morning in *watering order.
1904. A. Griffiths, 50 Yrs. Public Service, x. 130. The hours for ‘watering order,’ feeding, cleaning, exercising, and cleaning down.
1827. Steuart, Planter’s Guide, 316. Gardeners usually recommend, that all artificial waterings should be performed with the *Watering-pan, as more accurately imitating the genial rains.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1606/4. There was also taken away, a *watering Saddle.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 3. Coach, Coach-man and two Horses … were swept down to the *Watering-slip.
1624. in Athenæum (1908), 16 May, 605/1. For 2 *watering snaffles, iiis. iiiid.
1835–40. J. M. Wilson’s Tales Borders (1851), VII. 254. In my wanderings, I had entered King’s Park by the eastern stile, at the *watering-stone.
1609. in Lismore Papers, Ser. II. (1887), I. 132. xij stone lights with there *watering tables.
