[f. WRECK v.1 + -ING1.]
1. The action of destroying by shipwreck or causing wreck; the fact of having suffered wreck.
1775. Ash, Wrecking,… the act of destroying by dashing against rocks or sands at sea; the act of destroying by violent means.
1851. W. Collins, Rambles beyond Railw., v. (1852), 108. ‘Wrecking’ is a crime unknown in the Cornwall of our day.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., 3. Wrecking was no longer permitted by public morality.
1891. C. Dawson, Avonmore, 46. Till drunk with wrecking’s awful toil, Havoc will laugh and Ruin smile!
attrib. 1885. N. & Q., 6th Ser. XI. 428/1. The Wrecking system once practised on the English coasts.
2. concr. That which is wrecked; pl. wrecked remains.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 200. The more vigorously all will toil To mend the wreckings of a fallen race.
