Forms, see BUILD v. [f. as prec. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb BUILD, lit. and fig.
† b. Style of construction, build (e.g., of a ship).
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 501. In beldinge of tombes þei trauaileþ.
1480. in Bury Wills (1850), 65. To be … applied … to the bildyng, sustentacion, and reparacion of the seid collage.
1590. Webbe, Trav. (Arb.), 33. The houses are of a very olde building.
1604. Hieron, Wks., I. 515. For the building vp of their soules in Christ Iesus.
1737. L. Clarke, Hist. Bible, VIII. (1740), 551. In a Castle of his own Building.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1527. This carriage … had been three years in building.
1852. Tupper, Proverb. Philos., 37. Trifles … are levers in the building up of character.
2. That which is built; a structure, edifice: now a structure of the nature of a house built where it is to stand.
1297. R. Glouc., 291. And þer nas of olde house in þe lond non, Þat he ne amendede mid som lond, oþer mid byldynge.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 1774. Þe bildyngis fel boþe heȝe & lawe.
c. 1430. Syr Gener., 244. This belding we made here Is for you.
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 14. It … hath in it very fayre byldinges.
1611. Bible, Eccles. x. 18. By much slouthfulnesse the building decayeth.
1724. Watts, Logic, 110. A ship may be defined a large hollow building made to pass over the sea with sails.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, VII. Your holy buildings and your homes.
1854. Ruskin, Lect. Archit., Add. 121. The essential thing in a building … is that it be strongly built, and fit for its uses.
† 3. A company (of rooks), a rookery. Obs.
c. 1470. Hors Shepe & G. (1822), 30. A byldyn of rooks A clatering of chowhis.
1481. Bk. St. Albans, f vi b. A beldyng of Rookes.
[1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., I. ii. 33.
1883. Standard, 26 Sept., 5/1. Every one with any pretence to be gentle-folk spoke of … a building of rooks.]
4. Attrib. and Comb., as building-estate, -ground, -place, -trade, -tree; also building-lease, a lease of land on which the lessee may build; building-rent (see quot.); building-society, a society in which the members periodically contribute to a fund out of which money may be lent to any of their number for the purpose of building (or purchasing) a house; building-term, the duration of a building-lease.
1884. Sir J. C. Mathew, Law Reports 14 Queen’s B. Div., 758. The land is part of a *building estate.
1858. Ld. St. Leonards, Handy Bk. Prop. Law, VII. 48. Abutting upon *building-ground belonging to the seller. Ibid., XVII. 114. Powers … to grant *building-leases.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., vii. (1870), 138. To prefer the tall trees … for its *building-place.
1776. A. Smith, W. N. (1869), II. V. ii. 432. The *building rent is the interest or profit of the capital expended in building the house.
1848. Mill, Pol. Econ., V. iii. § 6 (1876), 501.
1862. Ld. St. Leonards, Vendors & Purch., 377. The members of a *building society, whose land was vested in trustees for them.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4158/4. They intend to Let to Farm a *Building Term in several Houses.
1607. Norden, Surv. Dial., 210. The Oke, Elme and Ash … indeed are *building trees.
