Forms: 1 woʓung, 3 wouhinge, wowunge, 4–6 wowyng, -ing, 6 woynge, wooyng, 7–8 woing, 7– wooing. [f. WOO v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb WOO; amorous solicitation, courtship: in ME. often with dyslogistic implication.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, vii. 301. Wearð þa se casere for þære woʓunge astyrod.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 204. Mid wouhinge, mid togginge, oðer mid eni tollunge.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., vi. 28. Icham for wowyng al for-wake, wery so water in wore.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2361. Now know I wel þy cosses, & þy costes als & þe wowyng of my wyf.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1553, Hypsip. & Medea. As wolde god I leyser hadde & tyme By proces al his wowyng for to ryme.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 164. Caste out … leccherous woordys, wowynges, leccherous syȝtes.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 195. Hys vnaduised wowyng, hasty louyng and to spedy mariage.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 884. Our woing doth not end like an old Play: Iacke hath not Gill.
1645. Fuller, Good Th. in Bad T. (1646), 106. I do not like the wooing, that you should fetch a Bride with Fire and Sword.
1721. Ramsay, ‘The Last Time I came o’er the Moor,’ i. I met betimes my lovely Maid, In fit Retreats for wooing.
1792. Burns, Song, Duncan Gray. Duncan Gray cam’ here to woo, Ha, ha, the wooing o’t.
1867. Tennyson, Window, 166. Here is the golden close of love, All my wooing is done.
1883. Besant, All Sorts, xxvii. No girl likes to do her own wooing; she must be courted.
Proverbs. [1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 75. Pet. I would faine be doing. Gre. I doubt it not sir. But you will curse Your wooing.]
1659. N. R., Proverbs, 24. Courting and wooing brings dallying and doing.
1670. Ray, Prov., 48. Happy is the woing, that is not long in doing.
b. freq. in to go, come, ride a (or † on) wooing.
c. 1460. Metham, Wks. (1916), 150. Yt ys spedeful that day to go a wowyng.
1595. Knaresb. Wills (Surtees), I. 201. His short gowne … which he had lente to Tho. Atkinson for iij dayes to ride on woweinge with.
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 71. What? Michael Cassio, That came a woing with you?
a. 1611. in T. Ravenscroft, Melismata, F 1 b. The Frogge would a woing ride.
1690. Locke, Govt., I. xi. § 135. His Servant whom he sent a wooing for his Son.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 129, ¶ 10. When they go a wooing … they generally put on a red Coat.
1842. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, iii. He went out to-day a wooing.
c. fig.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 116. Þis is wowunge efter Godes grome, & tollunge of his vuel.
a. 1240. O. E. Hom., I. 269. Her biginnes þe wohunge of ure lauerd.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 533/1. Wowynge, procacio.
1596. Drayton, Leg. Robt. Dk. Norm., xxvi. Except in Perill, thou do’st not appeare; Yet scarcely then, but with Intreats and Wooing.
1613. W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. ii. (1616), 41. My Maiden-Muse flies the lasciuious Swaines,… Will not dilate … His curious searches, his respectlesse wooings.
1856. Grindon, Life, xviii. (1875), 218. Work is the wooing by which happiness is won.
d. attrib. and Comb., as wooing act, dance, day, language, mind, suit.
1704. Phil. Trans., XXIV. 1589 (2). I have plainly shewed their Ticking noise to be a *wooing Act.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 68. As wealth is burthen of my *woing dance.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 130. In loue is no lacke, no in no *wooyng day.
1878. Gibbon, For the King, iii. The ardour of our wooing days.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., To Rdr. (end), To Gentlewomen and their Loves is consecrated all the *Wooing Language … feigned by the Muse amongst Hills and Rivers.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 412. Henceforth my *woing minde shall be exprest In russet yeas, and honest kersie noes.
1622. Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 210. He comes upon a *wooing suit for the Infanta.
