[f. FROWN v. + -ING1.] The action of the vb. FROWN; an instance of the same.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 4062. With that the cherl his clubbe gan shake, Frouning his eyen gan to make, And hidous chere.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 181/1. Frownynge.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 9 E vj. For bittur frounyng, godly ioye and lightenesse of herte.
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, 145. With frownings dume, downe are his smilings cast.
1616. J. Lane, Cont. Sqr’s. T., x. 477.
| Whome when the kinge saw, said, ‘Hence naughtie knave!’ | |
| so, turnes him fro, and nought but frowninges gave. |
1713. Swift, Frenzy of J. Dennis, Wks. 1755, III. I. 146. He read a page or two with much frowning.
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, I. 16. xxvi.
| When he a ploughboy in the fields did maul, | |
| And drudg’d with toil through almost every scene; | |
| How pinch’d with winter’s frownings he has been. |
1872. Darwin, Emotions, ix. 224. We may conclude that frowning is not the expression of simple reflection, however profound, or of attention, however close, but of something difficult or displeasing encountered in a train of thought or in action.
