[f. prec. + -ING1.] The giving of a sign or token; signification, meaning; emblem, symbol; omen, portent.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 51. Ȝe habbeð iherd of þis putte þe bitacninge.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 50. Þe blake cloð also tekeðe bitocnunge.
a. 1400. Cursor M., 2682 (Trin.). Þe werke of circumcisyng Bereþ greet bitokenyng [Gött. forbisining].
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. vi. 103. Hys folke toke hit for an euyll betoknynge.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 374/1. He mocketh not the sacramentes but the mynysters that openeth not the betokeninges thereof.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., To Rdr. If you … lay their betokenings to the things whose names they bear.
