vbl. sb. [f. BENT sb.1 + -ING1: cf. nutting, bird-nesting.]
1. The going after bents [see BENT sb.1 2 c]. Benting- (benneting-) time: the time when pigeons, etc., are reduced to feed on bents; also transf.
1672. Ray, Coll. Prov. (1678), 49. The pigeon never knoweth wo, But when she doth a benting go.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 1283. Bare benting times, and moulting Months may come.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Pigeon, Be sure to feed them in hard Weather, and in Benting-time.
1752. Lisle, Husb., 320. Midsummer is the oxen and cow-cattle’s bennetting-time.
2. = BENT sb.1 2 c; the seeding stalks of the plantain (herb).
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 357. They live upon the seeds of weeds and bentings.
1824. Forsyth, Fruit Trees, ix. 237. I generally cover them with bentings.
