[f. as prec. + -ING1.]
† 1. The production of blasts of wind or breath.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. lvii. 16. Ye blastinge goeth fro me, though I make the breath. Ibid., Ps. xvii. 15. At the blastinge & breth of thy displeasure.
† b. Flatulence; breaking of wind. Obs.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 304, in Babees Bk. (1868), 136. Alle wey be ware of þy hyndur part from gunnes blastynge.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 28. Windinesse, belching, and blasting of the stomach and belly.
2. The blowing of a wind-instrument.
1862. Guardian, 23 April, 403/3. The ruthless blasting of horns and beating of drums.
3. Withering or shrivelling up caused by atmospheric, electric or unseen agency.
1535. Coverdale, Hagg. ii. 17. I smote you with heate, blastinge & hale stones.
1552. Huloet, Blastynge or Searynge, as of corne, herbes, fruite, and trees.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 452. In thy husbandry, blasting may vndoe thee.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farm, 313. Blasting, which is a corruption happening to hearbes and trees by some euill constellation.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 15. Blasting hath commonly been mistaken for Mildew.
1870. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., vi. 114. Blasting and mildew … had no place in the Divine ideal of a pure and holy world.
† b. A similar affection of the animal body. Obs.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 1. To heale inflamations, blastings and swellings of the eyes.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 378. The fat … doth keep the skin of the face free from all blastings and blemishes.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 43. It cureth shrinking of the joints, and blasting.
c. fig. and transf.
1677. Gilpin, Dæmonol. (1867), 286. They have also so great a blasting upon their understanding.
† 4. Calumnious whisper; scandal. (Cf. next word quot. 1603.) Obs.
a. 1628. F. Greville, Sidney (1652), 89. Saves Sir Francis Drake from blastings of Court.
1665. Surv. Aff. Netherl., 169. About which matter there are not a few blastings and Factions.
5. The operation of blowing rocks to pieces; also its result or material produce.
1824. Encycl. Brit., Suppl. II. 317. Blasting … the application of the explosive force of gunpowder, in opening or rending rocks.
1885. Sir R. Christison, Autobiog., I. iv. 96. Finding prehnite among the blastings of a trap cliff.
6. Comb. and Attrib. (sense 5), as blasting-charge, -fuse, gelatine, -powder, -tools; blasting-needle, a taper piece of metal to make an aperture for a fuse; blasting-oil, nitro-glycerine.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Blasting-stick, a simple form of fuse.
1883. Fortn. Rev., May, 645. Blasting gelatine … consists of nitro-cotton … dissolved in nitro-glycerine.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Sept., 11/1. An article on the manufacture of dynamite and nitro-glycerine, and … the still more powerful ‘explosive of the future’—blasting gelatine.
