[f. SPREAD v.]
1. The action of the verb in various senses:
a. In transitive uses.
a. 1000. Rituale Eccl. Dunelm. (Surtees), 109. Sprædvng [L. propagationem] mennisces cynnes.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in O. E. Hom., I. 185. Wiþ þe ilke spredunge [of the arms] … as þe moder to hire child.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 470. Spredynge, dilatacio, extencio.
c. 1465. Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903), 3. Þe egile … Thorowe þe spredinge of his wengis þat neuer begane to flee.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 206. Oft for ane causs thy burdclaith neidis no spredding.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Ezek. xxvi. 5. Thou shalt be for the spreading of nettes in the middes of the sea.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 508. Touching the spreading of mucke, and mingling it with the mould of a land.
1657. Attest Innoc. Z. Crofton, A iij. Many of his friends considering the spreading of this scandal,… did see the necessity of speaking in his behalf.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 123. The reward of manuring a cold clay with coal-ashes, even in the year immediately following the spreading of it.
1853. [see SPREADER 4 a].
1900. Westm. Gaz., 11 Jan., 2/2. This is the doctrine of ‘spreading,’ that we had over the Clerical Tithes Act.
b. In intransitive uses.
1382. Wyclif, Ezek. xxxi. 7. He was moost fayr in his greetnes, and in spredynge of tendre trees.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 470. Spredynge, or streykynge owte, extencio, protencio.
1538. Starkey, England, I. ii. 63. Lyke as the cloudys let the schynyng and spredyng of the sone beamys downe to the erth.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 678. Whose goinges foorth (or spreadinges abroade) haue beene … from euerlasting.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 144. Harts (notable for their greatnesse, and the spreading of their hornes).
1639. O. Wood, Alph. Bk. Secrets, 134. The water thereof is perfect good to stay the spreading of the Canker.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, x. ¶ 4. The spreading of the ends of these two Tennants into the spreading of the Mortesses in the Cheeks.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 102/1. The patient may suffer from the spreading of the disease.
1832. H. Melvill, in Preacher, III. 97/1. The creatures whom he hath sent forth to tenant the spreadings of immensity.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 574. A spreading of the fluid into the retro-ocular tissue.
2. attrib., as spreading commission, knife, place, sheet; also in mod. technical usage, as spreading furnace, hammer, machine, room, etc.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. XCII. v. Where God doth dwell Shall be his spreading place.
1625. Donne, Serm., iii. 26. He hath given us that spreading commission to … preach to every creature.
1648. Hexham, II. Een Spreeder, the Spreding-sheete of a bed.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xiv. (Roxb.), 3/1. The second … which is called a chopping Knife, or a cookes chopper, or a spreading Knife.
1837. Penny Cycl., VIII. 95/1. The spreading-machine is not universally used;… for fine yarns … machine-spreading does not answer so well as hand-spreading.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 578. The spreading furnace or oven is that in which cylinders are expanded into tables or plates. Ibid., 611. The French gold-beaters employ besides this hammer … the spreading hammer.
1885. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Rec., Ser. IV. 2/2. (Waterproofing), To make the thick paste into a sheet, what is termed a ‘spreading machine’ is used. Ibid., 5/1. The spreading-rooms of some of the largest establishments.
