Forms: see prec.; also pa. pple. 5 wyngged, y-whyngged. [f. prec. sb.]
I. Senses derived from senses 1–5 of the sb.
† 1. trans. To carve (a quail or partridge). Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, f vij b. A Quayle wyngged.
c. 1500. [see ELE v.2].
1513. Bk. Keruynge, in Babees Bk., 265.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. ii. 44. Him list not spend his idle meales In quinsing Plouers, or in winging [printed winning] Quailes.
1694. N. H., Ladies Dict., 415 (bis).
a. 1756. Mrs. Heywood, New Present (1771), 269.
1804. Farley, London Art of Cookery (ed. 10), 292. Partridges and quails. To wing either of these birds, nothing more is to be done than to raise the legs and wings.
2. intr. († occas. refl.) To use one’s wings, take flight, fly; occas. transf. to sail; fig. to ‘fly,’ pass swiftly, speed. poet. or rhetorical.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., V. iii. 133. I (an old Turtle) Will wing me to some wither’d bough.
1623. ‘Jack Dawe,’ Vox Graculi, 5. It will be better going by Land … then to wing against winde and tide without a tilt-Cloath.
1628. Feltham, Resolves, II. [I.] xxxii. 101. Iuvenal does tell vs, how Life wings away!
1688. Crowne, Darius, V. 62. He wings along the Air in Clouds of Dust, And does not march, but fly.
1726. Adv. Capt. R. Boyle (1768), 268. I had nothing else to do but to Wing to the place where the Joy of my Life did once reside.
1801. W. Hutton, Life (1816), 238. The year winged away in feasting upon a pleasure to come.
1816. Scott, Antiq., vii. Many of these wild tribes … were now winging towards their nests.
1844. Hood, Haunted Ho., III. v. In the upper gloom The bat—or something in its shape—was winging.
1879. ‘E. Garrett’ (Mrs. Mayo), House by Works, xv. 290. He was dead before the telegram, winging over sea and land, announced his danger to his son.
b. In pa. pple. = flying, on the wing. Obs. or arch.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 21. Thou antique Death, Two Talbots winged through the lither Skie, In thy despight shall scape Mortalitie. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., IV. ii. 348. I saw loues Bird, the Roman Eagle, wing’d From the spungy South to this part of the West.
1737. H. Brooke, trans. Tasso, III. (1738), 10. Far wing’d before his Squadron Tancred came.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, vi. Brave thoughts winged on Grecian words gained their natural mastery over Terror.
3. trans. a. To fly through, upon or across; to traverse by flying.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 13. The Crowes and Choughes, that wing the midway ayre.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 936. I alone first undertook To wing the desolate Abyss.
1733. Pope, Ess. Man, III. 120. All that roam the wood, Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 26. Thoughts that wing infinity, apprehensions that reach through eternity.
1820. Shelley, Skylark, ii. The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
1883. Whitelaw, Sophocles, Oedipus Colonus, 1081. Oh that I were a dove, that I might wing the wind With pinion swift and strong.
b. with cognate obj. (flight, way).
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 14. New ways I must attempt, my groveling Name To raise aloft, and wing my flight to Fame.
1698. Congreve, Semele, II. i. 2. From Samos have I wing’d my Way.
1790. Alex. Wilson, To David Brodie, Poet. Wks. (1846), 7. The parting year prepares to wing its way.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxx. The week fled faster. It had nearly winged its flight away.
1893. Sir R. Ball, Story of Sun, xvii. 320. If we were able to wing our way from this Earth into the depths of space.
4. To put wings upon, furnish or fit with wings for flying; to feather (an arrow); also poet. in ref. to the sails of a ship.
a. 1616. B. Jonson, Barriers, 41. Marriage Loves obiect is:… For her, he wings his shoulders.
1661. Boyle, Style Script., 90. The Feathers that wing our Arrows.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 785. With sails we wing the masts.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. 296. Nimbly they wing’d the bark.
1867. F. Francis, Bk. Angling, xiii. 399. The nicest operation of all,… that of winging the fly.
b. fig. (or in fig. context): To ‘give wings to’; to enable to ‘fly’ or ‘soar’; to give speed or swift motion to; to speed, hasten.
1599. Peele, David & Bethsabe, C j b. Cast as was Eua from that glorious soile (Where al delights sat bating wingd with thoughts, Ready to nestle in her naked breasts).
16[?]. Lust’s Domin., I. iii. (1657), B 8. Ambition wings his spirit, keep him down.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Bloody Brother, III. i. Gis. Tyrant, twill haste thy owne death. Rol. Let it wing it.
1647. Trapp, Comm. 1 Cor. vii. 5. (1656), 673. Fasting-days are soul-fatting days: prayer is edged and winged thereby.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 175. The Thunder, Wing’d with red Lightning and impetuous rage.
1781. Cowper, Catharina, 50. With her book, and her voice, and her lyre, To wing all her moments at home.
1812. Cary, Dante, Parad., XX. 102. Lively hope, that wing’d The prayers [of St. Gregory] sent up to God for his release.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xiv. The hours glided on,… whether winged with joy or laden with affliction.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, VI. v. The Convent was at some distance, but … fear would wing her steps.
1849. M. Arnold, Sonn. to G. Cruikshank. Artist, whose hand, with horror wing’d, hath torn From the rank life of towns this leaf.
5. To convey by or as by means of wings; ‘to transport by flight’ (J.); to carry through the air as if flying, to waft (also fig.).
1628. Feltham, Resolves, II. [I.] xlvii. 139. It is these two only [sc. water and earth], that seeme to make the body, while the two purer, Fire and Ayre, are wing’d away.
1682. Otway, Venice Preserv’d, III. ii. 37. First, let’s embrace, Heav’n knows who next shall thus Wing ye together.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., II. 126. When future gales shall wing them o’er the tide.
1820. Clare, Poems Rural Life, 167.
| Sad was the day when my Willy did leave me, | |
| Sad were the moments that wing’d him away. |
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xiii. There was enough breeze … to wing the shadow of a cloud across the soft grey downs.
6. To send flying, let fly (as a missile); to send off swiftly, to dart.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XIII. 832. With his full Strength he bent his angry Bow, And wing’d the feather’d Vengeance at the Foe.
1831. G. P. R. James, Philip Aug., iii. Whether any of his train could draw a good bow, and wing a shaft well home.
1880. Meredith, Tragic Com., viii. The desire to wing a telegram to her he thought it wise to repress.
1887. Morris, Odyss., XI. 396. And therewith I bespake him and winged a word for his ears [ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδων].
7. To brush with a bird’s wing: cf. prec. 1 c.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VII. xxxiv. 49. With Blew Smalts strew very thick the Border while it is wet; and when it is dry, wing that which is loose off.
1866. [see WINGED ppl. a. 2].
8. To shoot (a bird) in the wing, so as to disable it from flying without killing it; transf. to wound (a person) with a shot in the arm or shoulder, or some other not vital part; to injure or disable (something) by a shot. Also, to pluck off the wings of (an insect).
1802. G. Colman, Poor Gentl., V. iii. 77. We are on the ground first … What are the odds now, that he doesn’t wing me?
1803. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., I. 365. Snatched at, like flies by children, to be winged and let go.
1826. F. Reynolds, Life & Times, I. 82. Though I regularly fired,… I never even winged a tomtit.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., ii. Be steady, and wing him.
1884. ‘H. Collingwood,’ Under Meteor Flag, v. Tompion was … bid do his best to ‘wing’ the Frenchman [sc. a ship].
1914. Times, 28 Oct., 9/6. One aeroplane was winged by the Russian soldiery.
II. Senses derived from senses 6–9 of the sb.
9. † a. Mil. To furnish (a force) with additional troops on the wings; also of such troops, to form the wings of. (occas. absol.) Obs.
1591. Garrard’s Art Warre, 202. This squadron is … flanked with Musket … and winged with horsemen.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. iii. 300. In the maine Battell, whose puissance on either side Shall be well-winged with our cheefest Horse.
1622. F. Markham, Bk. War, III. i. 82. They [sc. cavalry armed with petronels] wing the Launces or Pistolleirs.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VI. § 248. Having winged his Foot with his Horse and Dragoons.
1677. W. Hubbard, Pres. St. New-Eng., 125. We asked him what they intended who promised to wing us.
1699. Relat. Sir T. Morgan’s Progr. France, 6. We were forced to march up in four Lines (for we had not room enough to Wing).
b. To furnish with side parts or projections, as a building, etc.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 31 Aug. 1654. Two courts,… wing’d with cloisters.
1789. Trans. Soc. Arts, VII. 56. A new pair of flood-gates, winged with stone-walls.
a. 1830. Edin. Encycl., XIV. 349/1. If the pillars are to be winged afterwards, they must be left of an extra strength.
1882. C. A. Young, Sun, vi. 198. The hydrogen is in such a state that the lines of its spectrum are widened and ‘winged.’
10. Naut. To carry up (ballast) in the wings of a ship.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, II. 286. The iron ballast … is winged up 3 or more pigs above the floor-heads.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 735. To Wing up ballast, to carry the dead weight from the bottom as high as consistent with the stability of a ship.
11. Theatrical slang. To study (a part) in or about the wings, having undertaken it at short notice.
1886. Stage Gossip, 70. In the event of an artiste being suddenly called upon to play a part of which he knows nothing … he frequently has to ‘wing’ the part.
† 12. intr. To incline to a particular wing, side or party. Obs. nonce-use.
1617. R. Fenton, Treat. Ch. Rome, 52. This made the people wing on that side.
