vbl. sb. [f. TURF v.1 or sb.1 + -ING1.] The action of TURF v.1 Also attrib. turfing-iron, a tool for raising turf; turfing-spade, a spade used in digging peat, a peat-spade.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 69. [Figure of] The Turving Spade.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 249. To be pared off the ground with a turfing Spade.
1725. Bradley’s Fam. Dict., Turf, or Green Turf, Earth cover’d with small and very short Grass; its done two ways either by sowing or Turfing.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 173. Take a piece of turf four feet by four feet, shaped out with the edging-iron, and taken up with the turfing or floating spade.
1852. G. W. Johnson, Gard. Dict., 898/1. The Turfing Iron is for raising or peeling off the turves from the soil.
1896. [see TURF v.1 3].
