[f. TREMBLE v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb TREMBLE in various senses; in quot. 1902, spec. ague in sheep (see TREMBLE sb. 2).
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 4912. Ȝyf he lerne gylerye Fals wurde and feynt trenlyng [v.r. tremlynge].
1382. Wyclif, Eph. vi. 5. Seruauntis, obeysche ȝe to fleishly lordis with drede and tremblyng, in symplenesse of ȝoure herte, as to Crist.
c. 1400. Song Roland, 54. Trymlinge of tabers And tymbring soft.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 501/2. Tremelynge, or qwakynge, tremor.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 112 b. Transformynge our gesture or countenaunce, as in tremblynge.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. App. iv. All my spirits move with pleasant trembeling.
1693. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 25. A ship from Jamaica brings that the earth there had some tremblings again.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 2. At the sound of the word trembling came upon me.
1902. N. Munro, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 602/2. Sheep had been lost by the trembling.
b. attrib., as trembling fit; † trembling-stop, a tremolo organ-stop.
1659. Leak, Waterwks., 34. The Systemes and Measures of the Organ Pipes,… also of the manner of the Registers,… the Trembling stop, &c.
1856. Kane, Arct. Explor., I. xvi. 191. Men … were seized with trembling-fits and short breath.
