[f. BEAT v. + -ING1.]
1. The infliction of repeated blows; spec. the action of inflicting blows in punishment; the dashing of waves against the shore; the whipping up of a fluid; the flapping of wings; rousing of game, exercising the brain, etc.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 366. Seið Isaye … ure beatunge ueol upon him.
c. 1374. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1034. Betynge of the see … ayen the roches holowe.
c. 1440. Lonelich, Grail, lv. 297. He herd abowtes hym a wondir thinge: betyng of bryddes wynges in fere.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 114 b. Remember his scourgynges, buffettes & beatynges.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], trans. Hist. Ivstine, 5 b. Darius … bestowed much beating … in his troubled pate.
1656. H. More, Antid. Ath., II. iii. 82. The couragious beating of the Drum.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 460. The restless beating of the barren, bitter sea.
1879. Photogr., in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., III. 207. Upon the perfect beating of the albumen the success of the operation mainly depends.
b. with adv., as beating down, beating off, etc.
1530. Palsgr., 198/1. Beatyng downe of any buyldynge, demolition.
1803. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), V. 227. This beating off the Tunisians will have a very good effect.
2. In various technical uses: see BEAT v. 24.
1687. T. Brown, Saints in Uproar, Wks. 1730, I. 80. A fortnight’s beating of hemp.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 525. After the form has been lately washed … the letter will not take the ink without several beatings.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 415. As in hand-scutching, the operation consists of two processes: first the bruising of the stems; and secondly, the beating away of the woody parts from the fibre. Ibid., II. 728. Four principal operations constitute the art of gold-beating. 1 The casting of the gold ingots … 4 The beating.
3. A defeat in any contest.
1883. American, VI. 245. Our American rifle-team has had its beating, but not a bad beating.
4. Naut. Sailing against the wind.
1883. Contemp. Rev., Aug., 231. Of all the modes of progression invented by man, beating to windward in a sailing vessel is morally the most beautiful.
5. A pulsating or throbbing movement, like that of the heart, of a watch or clock, of two notes not in unison.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. iv. 97. The beating of so strong a passion As loue doth giue my heart.
1798. Southey, St. Patrick’s Purg., xxiii. In short quick beatings toil’d his heart.
1801. Phil. Trans., XCI. 442. Whether she really heard the beating of the watch.
1872. Huxley, Phys., ii. 42. Beating of the heart … is the result of the striking of the apex of the heart against the pericardium.
6. Comb., as beating board; beating-dog, a dog trained to put up game; beating-net, a kind of fishing-net; beating-order, a certificate given to a recruiting sergeant; † beating-stock, a jocular title given to one who is subjected to beating.
1552. Huloet, Beatynge stocke, subiculum flagri.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 248. You may go into the Fens, Marshes, or places with a Spaniel, or other Beating-dog.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 123. Then they bring it [potter’s clay] to their beating board, where with a long Spatula they beat it till it be well mix’t.
1721. Lond. Gaz., No. 5947/4. Has a Beating-Order about him, was lately a Sergeant and employed in Recruiting.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 125. Beating net … used by fishermen in the freshwater … It is a trammel or armoured net.
