vbl. sb. [f. LAUNCH v. + -ING1.] The action of the vb. LAUNCH.
1592. Davies, Immort. Soul, XXX. lviii. (1714), 104. That Launching, and Progression of the Mind, Which all men have.
1602. 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., I. i. 95. Nought but lanching can the wound auayle.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. II. Fathers, 67. Such ill-rigg’d ships would even in lanching sink.
1669. Bunyan, Holy Citie, 259. This signifieth our launching into Eternity.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman (1841), I. vi. 44. Such miserable havoc has launching out into … remote undertakings, made amongst tradesmen.
1751. Labelye, Westm. Br., 28. The lowering or launching of the finished Caisson.
1822. J. Flint, Lett. Amer., 129. The launching of a large steam-boat attracted a great assemblage of spectators.
1824. P. Hawker, Instr. Yng. Sportsmen (ed. 3), 332. Birds may be approached much nearer by this means than by any other kind of ‘launching.’
b. attrib. and Comb., as launching-cord, -cradle, -line; launching-cleat, the block of wood fastened to a ship when in dry dock or on the slips, to catch the head of the ‘shore’; launching-planks (see quot.); launching-punt, -sledge, a boat used in shooting wild fowl (cf. LAUNCH v. 9); launching-tube, a tube in a war-vessel for launching torpedoes; launching-ways, = launching-planks.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 15 Dec., 4/1. The Princess … has only to sever the *launching cord to set the Irresistible free. Ibid. The *launching cradle is a massive structure of wood and iron, weighing 300 tons.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 124. It swims at the line representing the *launching line.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 128. *Launching planks, a set of planks mostly used to form the platform on each side of the ship, whereon the bilgeways slide for the purpose of launching.
1824. P. Hawker, Instr. Yng. Sportsmen (ed. 3), 326. Hampshire *Launching-punt. Ibid., 332. The light *launching sledge is in the foreground.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., *Launching-ways, the same as Bilge-ways.
