[f. STAIN v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb STAIN, in various senses; also concr. a result of this action.
1382. Wyclif, Job xxviii. 19. Ne ther shal be maad euene to it topasie of Ethiope, ne to the most clene steynyng [Vulg. tincturæ mundissimæ] shal be comparisound.
1530. Rastell, Bk. Purgat., III. viii. 2. The spottes and tokens of the steynynge whych remayne be than a great deformyte and eye sore.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LI. i. Clense still my spotts, still wash awaie my staynings.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 598. Their Painting is meere steyning or trowelling in respect of ours.
1652. N. Culverwel, Lt. Nature, xv. (1661), 128. Far be it from me to drop one word, that should tend to the staining, and eclipsing of that just glory.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 79. This method of using water-colours is called painting; the other is called washing, or staining [i.e., tinting].
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 753. The colouring of maps is in fact only a species of staining.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 529. The wood … is well adapted … for staining.
1871. Amer. Encycl. Printing (ed. Ringwalt), Staining, in bookbinding, the coloring of the edges, fly-leaves, and backs of books, either in solid shades, or in the process styled marbling.
1881. W. B. Carpenter, Microscope, § 202 (ed. 6), 247. For blue and green staining, the various Aniline dyes are principally used.
1907. J. A. Hodges, Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6), 70. A more or less deep staining of the film results.
† b. A pigment used for staining. Obs.
1541. Aberdeen Reg. (1844), I. 175. Item, ane galkoit of stenyng, the price x s.
c. attrib.
1870. Power, trans. Stricker’s Man. Histol., I. Introd. p. xxxiii. The staining fluid.
1880. Gibbes, Histol., 22. Of the staining agents, logwood is the most useful.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 38. Photograph No. 3 shows the men at work at the staining tables, and a portion of the staining room [glove-manufacture].
