[f. WELD v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb WELD; the process of joining with a weld.
1603. [see 2].
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 14. Their Pintells … never having had their due welding. Ibid., 23. To give it its due welding or working.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 11. The fire for welding should be free from sulphur.
1854. J. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Elem. Chem., 438. The kaligenous metals, potassium and sodium,… readily admit of welding.
1881. J. Evans, Anc. Bronze Implem., 293. The term ‘welding’ is, however, inappropriate to a metal of the character of bronze.
b. Capacity for uniting under the operation of heat and pressure.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 784. Welding. The property of conjunction possessed by some metals at high temperatures.
1826. Henry, Elem. Chem., I. 556. The property of welding, which belongs to platinum and iron at a high degree of heat only, is possessed by this substance [sodium] at common temperatures.
1868. Roscoe, Elem. Chem., 236. When hot, it [wrought iron] possesses the peculiar property or ‘welding.’
c. = welding heat (see 3).
1842. Rep. Brit. Assoc., 106. A piece of the same iron heated to welding, and left to cool, broke … in one blow.
2. transf. and fig. The action of uniting, or the fact of being united, closely or indissolubly.
1603. James I., Βασιλικον Δωρον, III. 149. The vniting and welding of them heerafter in one, by all sort of friendship, commerce, and alliance.
1857. I. Taylor, World of Mind, 669. These are solderings of the social system … but Love is a welding.
1874. Symonds, Sk. Italy & Greece (1898), I. xi. 212. Nor was it in their welding of the bricks alone that these craftsmen showed their science.
1905. ‘G. Thorne,’ Lost Cause, xii. The harmonic welding of the order and traditions of our Lord’s Own time with the full vivid life of the twentieth century.
3. attrib. and Comb., as welding-machine, process, state, swage; welding heat, the degree of heat to which iron is brought for welding; welding point, degree of heat requisite for welding; also fig.; welding powder, a flux used in welding.
1710. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., II. *Welding-Heat, is a Degree of Heat which Smiths give their Iron in the Forge, when there is occasion to double up the Iron, and to Weld … the Doublings.
1776. Phil. Trans., LXVI. 510. I heated a piece of iron … to a white heat, or what the smiths call a welding heat.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 301/2. Cast-steel requires a low welding-heat.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Welding-machine, one for uniting the edges of plates previously bent, [etc.].
1868. Joynson, Metals, 69. Each quality of iron has a different *welding point.
1886. Froude, Oceana, i. 16. The feeling … may be a warm one, but not warm enough to heat us … to the welding point.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 361/1. The steel to be welded … is then dipped into the *welding powder, and again placed in the fire.
1907. E. Wilson & Lydall, Electr. Traction, I. 95. The electric *welding process is exploited by the Lorain Steel Company and welds the rails together.
1846. Greener, Sci. Gunnery, 108. The parts first fused are gathered on the end of a similarly fabricated rod, in a *welding state.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Welding-swage, a block or fulling-tool for assisting the closure of a welded joint.
