[f. UNDO v.]
† 1. Exposition; interpretation. Obs.
a. 1330. Seuyn Sages (W.), 2352. He scholde … brenge a besaund to offring, And of his sweuen have undoing.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xl. 8. And Joseph seide to hem, Whether not of God is the vndoyng?
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IV. xxvi. 2576. Discripcion is wrytynge In til our propyr vndoynge.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365/1. Ondoynge, or expownynge, exposicio.
2. The action of opening, unfastening, taking apart, loosening, etc.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, vi. (Thomas), 477. Or þat ee þe vndoynge Is of oure harte & vndirstandinge.
a. 1400. Pauline Ep. (Powell), 1 Cor. vii. 27. If þou art bowndyn to a wif, seeke þou not vndoyng.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365/1. Ondoynge, or opynynge of schettellys, or sperellys, apercio.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hunting, e iii. Now of thage & undoyng of the boore.
1598. Florio, Disciolare,… to put off hose and doublet without vndoing of points.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 484. The heeles of their shooes are seldome pulled vp, to saue labour of vndoing them.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 912. They all bring about a loosening of the framework of … nervous matter…. The muscular system also … shows a like undoing.
3. The action of bringing to nought, destroying, or ruining; the fact of being so dealt with; the state of being undone; also (with a), an instance of this.
Quotations under (a) illustrate the active, those under (b) the passive, use of the word.
(a) 1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., X. iii. (Tollem. MS.). It is þe leste party and laste in undoynge of the body.
1423. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 198/2. In hy undoyng to the Kynges Liege peple, and ayenis the ordenaunce and statuts.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 365/1. Ondoynge, or dystroyynge, dissipacio, destruccio.
c. 1475. Golagros & Gaw., 497. May nane do thame na deir with vndoyng.
1598. Florio, Sfaccimento, a defacing,… a defeasance, an vndooing.
1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 358. If thou leauest out the manner of doing, this is an vndoing to thy doing.
1671. Flavel, Fount. Life, v. 13. An Undoing to him in point of Reputation.
(b) c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 9125. The Grekes were in point of vndoyng: Ne hadde ther comen ther riche kyng.
1415. Sir T. Grey, in 43rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. (1882), 583. Hit has broghte me to þis shame and undoyng.
1503–4. Plumpton Corr. (Camden), p. cxiii. Sir Roger Hastings is at the point of undoinge, because hee hath not money to pay where he ought to pay.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades, II. vi. 171/1. Neither doest thou read that the state … of the Israelites was euer at any time in greater daunger and peril of vndooing.
1614. R. Tailor, Hog hath lost Pearle, IV. How many country Clyents then might rest, Free from vndooing!
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1744), XI. viii. 183. He that ventures to be a surety for another, ventures an undoing for his sake.
b. With possessive pronoun or genitive.
Chiefly in passive sense.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 589. Danyel of her vndoynge deuyned and seyde [etc.].
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 127. He took redyly þo ȝiftes, & þat was cause of his vndoyng.
1478. Paston Lett., Suppl. (1901), 151. Now he ys uppon hys makyng by vertues governance, or undoyng to the contrarye.
1562. Pilkington, Expos. Abdias, Pref. 16. They saved your lyves and goods, not seeking your undoinge when it laye in their handes.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., 353. For, exposed he was … to the accesse of as manie as sought the undoing of others.
1679. J. Goodman, Penit. Pard., II. i. (1713), 157. His undoing was his making, and his misfortune proved his recovery.
1740. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 64. You see your undoing has been long hatching.
1823. Byron, Juan, XIV. lxxxv. The latter works its own undoing.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. ix. He was not the first that has … brought about his own undoing.
c. In the phrase to (one’s) undoing.
1456[?]. Paston Lett., Suppl. (1901), 59. Thei wuld put alle juparte up on me to myn utter ondoyng.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 97 b. Lest he gete helpe of thy superyour, & so vanquysshe ye to thy vtter vndoynge.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. V., 5 b. Whiche … might abuse the name of his commaundemente to any of our vndoyng.
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), App. 138. By that meanes all his creditors came upon him to his utter undoinge.
1641. W. Hakewill, Libertie of Subject, 83. That desperate motion that had been made against them to all their utter undoings.
1883. Whitelaw, Sophocles, Ajax, 402. But me the child of Zeus … plagues To my undoing.
4. A cause of ruin or destruction.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 229. Which was to him his undoinge.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1906), 60. Adam … beleued his wyff, the whiche was dethe and vndoyng to hym and her, and to us all.
1576. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 414. It is an accion of accompt … like to be the vtter vndooing both of him and his.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, II. i. 197. It had beene her undooing t’ have hime seene.
1659. Rushw., Hist. Coll., I. 420. The Soldiers brake out into great disorders…; they were a terror to all, and an undoing to many.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. iv. Mary-bone and the Chocolate-houses are his Undoing.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxiii. She will tell the truth, if it should be the undoing of her.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1875), III. xiii. 264. The marriage of Emma had well nigh been the undoing of England.
5. The action of reversing, annulling, etc.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 30 § 1. The said judgementes … shall stande … without any reuersell or vndooyng of the same.
1611. Cotgr., Rompement,… a cancelling, dissoluing, infringing, vndoing.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 16. Our Trade of doing, and undoing, will be endlesse.
1866. J. H. Newman, Lett. to Pusey, 36. He … became man, that by what way the disobedience arising from the serpent had its beginning, by that way also it might have an undoing.
1897. J. Winsor, Columbus, ii. 50. When Isabella decreed the undoing of Columbus’s kidnapping exploits.
