vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ING1.] The action of the vb. EQUIP.
1704. Collect. Voy. (Churchill), III. 740/1. The Governour was busy in equipping of Men of War.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 337. The equipping of two such armaments, did not escape the notice of the British Ministry.
1799. Nelson, 28 Nov., in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), IV. 118. Our Ships off Malta … will want a complete equipping.
¶ Used gerundially with omission of in.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1677/1. The rest of the Ships that are Equipping at Thoulon.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), I. Introd. 11. The Endeavour was equipping for a voyage to the South Seas.
1810. Naval Chron., XXIII. 113. In the basin … were seven two-deckers equipping.
