[f. CRADLE v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the vb. CRADLE in various senses; an instance of this. lit. and fig.
1818. Keats, Endymion, I. 391. A yielding up, a cradling on her care.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., 67. Oftentimes a single cradling gets them all, and after that the poor man’s labor is only rewarded by mud and worn pebbles.
2. A framework of wood or iron, esp. in Archit.
1823. Rutter, Fonthill, 69. Pinnacles … bound together by a cradling of iron.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., Cradling (Archit.), the mass of timber-work disposed in arched or vaulted ceilings for sustaining the lath-and-plaster.
1875. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Cradling … is applied to the wooden bracketing for carrying the entablature of a shop front.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Aug., 2/1. The cradling makes it difficult for the panel to warp.
