vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the vb. ETCH; the art of the etcher.
1634. J. B[ate], Myst. Nat. & Art, 140. Etching is an imitation of engrauing, but more speedily performed.
a. 1691. Boyle, Wks (1772), III. 459. The art of etching, whereby copper and silver plates may be enriched with figures.
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng., lxxi. § 27. Prince Rupert … was the inventor of etching.
1845. J. Pye, Patron. Brit. Art, ii. 50. Etching is not my profession.
2. concr. A copy or representation produced by the process of etching; an impression from an etched plate.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), I. 244. His etchings for Aesop’s fables and view of Bruges were much esteemed.
1783. Cowper, Lett. (1862), 225. I have an etching of the late Chancellor hanging over the parlour chimney.
1860. C. Sangster, Hesperus, etc. 161. These leaves Of meditation are … Mere etchings of the artist.
b. transf.
1765. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VII. xxxii. Never is my imagination so busy as in framing his responses from the etchings of his countenance.
3. attrib., as etching-club, -needle, -printing, -varnish, -wax; etching-ground, the composition with which the metal plate, etc., is covered preparatory to etching.
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Arts, II. 51. Take a copper plate prepared as before…, lay the etching ground upon it, and etch the outlines of your design.
1821. Craig, Lect. Drawing, vii. 374. The use of such a cushion has … been generally laid aside, since the etching-needle has been employed.
1860. Piesse, Lab. Chem. Wonders, 162. Etching varnish is made of virgin wax and asphaltum.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 298. One process of engraving on glass is carried out by covering the glass with an etching wax [etc.].
1878. Hamerton, Engraving, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 444/2. Etching clubs, or associations of artists for the publication of original etchings.
1885. Bookseller, 5 March, 311, Advt., Etching Printing has recently received especial care and attention.
