[f. WINNOW v. + -ING1.]
1. The process described s.v. WINNOW v. 1.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 270. Recabes sunen … ifunden þe wummon astunt of hire windwunge & iueollen aslepe.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, I. ix. 18. In þe wyndouynge þe caff is oute cast.
1538. Elyot, Ventilatio, a fannynge or wynnowynge.
1586. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 25. Wyndoinge of barlie.
1695. Rector’s Bk. Clayworth (1910), 113. We look in to ye wheat … & upon winnowing in order to sale, found it in good condition.
1755. in 6th Reg. Dep. Kpr. Rec., App. II. 128. [A machine] for the Dressing, Winnowing, and Cleansing of Flax.
1856. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xv. 261. The winnowing was done by women.
b. fig.: see WINNOW v. 1 b.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxiii. 437. Whon þe wynewyng schal be-ginne To parte euel from good.
1636. T. Goodwin, Child of Light, 44. In these commotions & winnowings of spirit.
1679. in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1910), XVI. 146. This being a time of Trying & winnowing doth onely blow away the chaffe.
1851. Gallenga, Italy, v. 303. Instead of undergoing a thorough sifting and winnowing, the free corps fell every day into a more deplorable state of disorder.
1913. Athenæum, 7 June, 609/1. He has evidently subjected the correspondence and diaries placed in his hands to a rigorous winnowing.
2. Of wings, etc.: see WINNOW v. 3. Chiefly poet.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Rhyme of Duchess May, Concl. iv. Angel-wings, with their holy winnowings.
1856. Kingsley, Glaucus (ed. 3), 120. Small cuttle-fish … put into a jar, will hover and dart in the water … by rapid winnowings of their glassy side-fins.
1897. F. Thompson, New Poems, 52. The wings Hear I not in prævenient winnowings Of coming songs, that lift my hair and stir it?
3. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 1), as winnowing operation, place; esp. in names of appliances for winnowing, as winnowing-basket, -cloth, -fan (see FAN sb.1 1), -machine, -mill, -sheet, -shovel.
1375. Doc. Doune Manor, Wandsworth (Westm. Chapter Munim.), 1 wyndwyngschete debilis. Ibid. (1378), 1 Wynfynschete de Canabis.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. iii. 12. Whos wynwing cloth [is] in his hond. Ibid. (1382), Luke iii. 17. Whos wynewyng tool in his hond. Ibid. (1388), Jer. xv. 7. A wyndewynge instrument.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke, iii. 15–18. He shall make clene the floore of his winnowyng place.
1710. O. Sansom, Acc. Life, 35. They took away my Winnowing-Fan, which was worth 8 s.
1773. Pennsylv. Gaz., 3 Feb. Suppl. 2/3. A winnowing-mill.
1780. Edmondson, Her., II. Gloss. s.v. Basket, A Winnowing-Basket.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 31. Winnowing-Machines. Machines of this sort are in pretty general use, where thrashing mills … are not erected.
1862. Ramsay, Remin., vi. (ed. 8), 243. The … man surceased his winnowing operations.
1879. B. Taylor, Stud. Germ. Lit., viii. 253. The winnowing-mill of Time makes sad havoc with works considered immortal in their day.
1886. S.-W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., A windering sheet.
