ceilingn.
/ˈsiːlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsilɪŋ/ I. The action of ceil v.† 1. The action of lining (the roof or walls of) an apartment with boards, or (more rarely) with plaster, etc. Obsolete exc. Nautical.The sense ‘carving’ is possible in the two earliest quots.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > shipbuilding and repairing > [noun] > shipbuilding > specific procedures
furring1622
ceiling1627
spaling1805
fortifying1820
conversion1850
boot-topping1867
fairing1867
horning1879
1497 Acc. Ld. Treas. I. 357 Jam. at Siling Item, to the kervour that tuk in task the siling of the chapel, in part of payment, ij lib. xiiijs.
1519 W. Horman Vulgaria xxix. f. 243 Vautynge, and celynge, with cunnynge caruynge, and peyntynge,..ornatteth wondersly lordys howsis.
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ii. 13 There remaines nothing..but onely seeling the Cabins.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 149/2 Seileing is House Painting where Plaister Walls are made to look like Wainscate or outlandish Timber.
2. esp. The lining of the roof of a room with woodwork, plaster, or the like; now, usually, with lath and plaster.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > [noun] > roofing > providing with ceiling
silouring1450
ceiling1764
1764 T. Harmer Observ. Passages Script. iii. 90 Their cieling their rooms with wood and neatly painting, and sometimes gilding them.
1798 C. Hutton Course Math. II. 90 Plasterers' work is of two kinds, namely, ceiling, which is plastering upon laths; and rendering.
II. concrete.† 3. A screen of tapestry, a curtain. Obsolete.† 4.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > covers or hangings > [noun] > hangings > a hanging
banker?c1350
coster1395
costeringa1427
hanging1431
ceilingc1450
valent1794
fall1852
c1450 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 626 Celynge, velamen.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxiiv The French kyng..caused the lord of Countay..with the lord of Argenton..to stande secretly behynd a selyng or a hangyng in his chamber..so that what soeuer were purposed to hym, they standing behynd the clothe, might easely se, & facile heare the same.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iii. v. sig. Ff.vijv/1 He is the curtaine and seeling, the rafter & ornament of his Church.
1632 R. Sanderson 12 Serm. 343 Creepeth in betweene the walls and seelings.
a. The wooden lining of the roof or walls of a room: panelling; wainscoting. Obsolete. Cf. ceil v. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > wallcovering > [noun] > wooden panelling
ceilingc1380
wainscot1548
wainscoting1580
wainscotage1677
boiserie1832
board-lining1879
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 1330 Þe celynge with-inne was siluer plat & with red gold ful wel yguld.
1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions ii. i. 117 They haue—cielinges, voultinges, dores and gates couered with siluer.
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Cielo, the seeling, vpper~face or rooffe of a house.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 229 Varnish, that makes seelings not onely shine, but last.
1632 in J. Barmby Churchwardens' Accts. Pittington (1888) 187 Five yeards and a halfe of square sealing to the orgaine frame.
a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 67 They go out into the room about three-quarters of a yard, and are faced with some neat sieleing.
b. Nautical. The inside planking of a ship's bottom carried up to the lowest deck; = foot waling n. at foot n. and int. Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > [noun] > planking > internal planking > up to lowest deck
ceiling1633
foot walinga1647
futtling1850
1633 T. James Strange Voy. 50 In the runne of her..he cut away the sealing.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Kent 60 Their Seeling was damm'd up with a certain kind of morter to dead the shot.
1688 J. Clayton Let. 12 May in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) (1693) 17 783 Cutting..the Seeling of the Ship, they immediately stopt the Leak.
1752 J. Waddell in Philos. Trans. 1749–50 (Royal Soc.) 46 112 Another Part of it went through the Starboard Side, without any Hurt to the Ceiling (or inside Plank).
1773 J. Hawkesworth Acct. Voy. Southern Hemisphere III. iii. v. 550 The planking which lines the inside of the ship's bottom is called the cieling, and between this, and the outside planking, there is a space of about eighteen inches.
1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuilding xix. 424 The Liverpool rule..states that the ceiling in the flat of hold is to be laid in hatches.
5.
a. esp. The undercovering of a roof or floor, concealing the timbers; the plaster of the top of a room.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > ceiling > [noun]
roofeOE
firstOE
first-roofOE
silour1424
siling1483
ceiling1535
loftingc1540
loft1596
floor1600
plafond1664
top1709
ceil1840
planchment1874
laquearia1922
overhead1942
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Song of Sol. i. 17 Ye sylinges of oure house are of Cedre tre, & oure balkes of Cypresse.
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales iv. xv. 113 Betweene the roofe and the seeling, the three Senators..hid themselues.
1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie It [my cottage] doth adore thee with the seeling low.
?1677 S. Primatt City & Covntry Purchaser & Builder 67 Every hundred of Laths cover six yards of Ceeling or Partitioning.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 343 The Ceiling allways of Wood..inlaid or painted and Gilded.
1731 H. Fielding Welsh Opera i. xi. 20 Dost thou not expect the Ceiling to fall down on thy Head for so notorious a Lie?
1874 J. H. Parker Introd. Study Gothic Archit. (ed. 4) i. iii. 53 At Canterbury..the choir itself had a flat boarded ceiling.
1878 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 172 The water had found its way through the ceiling into the room beneath.
b. to hit the ceiling: to become very angry, to lose one's temper. colloquial.
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the mind > emotion > anger > [verb (intransitive)] > become angry
wrethec900
wrothc975
abelghec1300
to move one's blood (also mood)c1330
to peck moodc1330
gremec1460
to take firea1513
fumec1522
sourdc1540
spitec1560
to set up the heckle1601
fire1604
exasperate1659
to fire up1779
to flash up1822
to get one's dander up1831
to fly (occasionally jump, etc.) off (at) the handle1832
to have (also get) one's monkey up1833
to cut up rough, rusty, savage1837
rile1837
to go off the handle1839
to flare up1840
to set one's back up1845
to run hot1855
to wax up1859
to get one's rag out1862
blow1871
to get (also have) the pricker1871
to turn up rough1872
to get the needle1874
to blaze up1878
to get wet1898
spunk1898
to see red1901
to go crook1911
to get ignorant1913
to hit the ceiling1914
to hit the roof1921
to blow one's top1928
to lose one's rag1928
to lose one's haira1930
to go up in smoke1933
hackle1935
to have, get a cob on1937
to pop (also blow) one's cork1938
to go hostile1941
to go sparec1942
to do one's bun1944
to lose one's wool1944
to blow one's stack1947
to go (also do) one's (also a) dingerc1950
rear1953
to get on ignorant1956
to go through the roof1958
to keep (also blow, lose) one's cool1964
to lose ita1969
to blow a gasket1975
to throw a wobbler1985
1914 Living Age (U.S.) Aug. 374 He will..‘get warm round the collar’, and may even ‘hit the ceiling’.
1930 P. G. Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves xi. 287 I haven't breathed a word to Angela. She'd hit the ceiling.
1958 E. Dundy Dud Avocado ii. i. 193 Larry hit the ceiling and said he had to come along, that he'd spoil everything if he didn't.
6.
a. transferred and figurative.
ΚΠ
1596 M. Drayton Tragicall Legend Robert Duke of Normandy sig. C2 The face of heauen..The gorgeous seeling of th' immortall frame.
1614 T. Adams Diuells Banket vi. 315 You that haue neglected heauen, which God hath made your more glorious seeling.
a1649 W. Drummond Wks. (1711) 32/2 Those boundless Bounds where Stars do move, The Cieling of the christal Round above.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 205 The rose's blushing bloom, Loveliest cieling of the bower.
b. Aeronautics. The maximum altitude at which a particular aircraft can maintain horizontal flight (in full absolute ceiling: see absolute adj. and n. Compounds 2); also, the altitude beyond which the rate of climbing falls below 100 feet per minute (in full service ceiling, see service n.1).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > qualities and parameters of aircraft > [noun] > maximum altitude
ceiling1917
roof1917
absolute ceiling1918
1917 Jane's All the World's Aircraft 9a/4 The extreme height to which an aircraft will rise,..familiarly known as the ‘ceiling’ or ‘roof’ of that particular machine.
1919 Parl. Papers X. 49 In a long flight it is most economical to climb an aeroplane in the attitude corresponding to the maximum value of the lift-drag ratio until it approaches its ceiling.
1919 H. Trenchard in London Gaz. 1 Jan. 136/2 Ceiling was of more importance than speed for long-distance day bombing work.
1928 Fortn. Rev. Dec. 764 Its ceiling when fully loaded was sometimes far under 10,000 feet.
c. Meteorology. (See quots.) See also cloud-ceiling n. at cloud n. Compounds 1a. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > [noun] > cloudiness > height of lowest cloud layer
ceiling1930
cloud-ceiling1945
1930 Monthly Weather Rev. (U.S.) 58 202/1 Ceilings are seldom low enough to measure by means of a ceiling light, or ceiling balloons.
1931 C. J. Maguire Aerol. ii. 31 Cloud height or ‘ceiling’ may be obtained..by releasing a balloon inflated to a known ascensional rate and noting the time elapsing before disappearance in the clouds (special balloons for this purpose are called ceiling balloons).
1939 G. F. Taylor Aeronaut. Meteorol. ii. 30 The term ceiling as employed in aviation is defined as the distance between the surface of the ground and the base of the lowest cloud layer.
1941 S. Pettersen Introd. Meteorol. ii. 40 In the United States the ceiling is defined as the height in feet of the lowest level below 10,000 ft. above the ground at which the total cloudiness covers more than one-half of the sky.
1968 R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 115 Coming down through a low ceiling of cloud to find, unexpectedly, the river littered with running ice.
d. An upper limit (to quantity, prices, expenditure, etc.); a maximum. Also attributive. Cf. floor n.1 1c.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > [noun] > specific price level
trigger-point1891
support level1906
ceiling1934
roof1939
floor1941
support floor1942
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > the greatest amount or quantity > quality of being maximal > maximum
maximity1651
maximum1663
outside1699
max1911
upper bound1917
ceiling1934
roof1939
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 18 Oct. 19/1 A blanket acreage-reduction contract between farmers and the Government would have approximately the same ultimate effect in keeping the ‘calory ceiling’ down.
1934 Sun (Baltimore) 13 Dec. 1/8 A ‘ceiling’ or fixed limit..upon all commodity prices.
1936 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Jan. 270 Towards the ‘ceiling’ of the test—the highest possible score—it seems reasonable to suppose that the curve will become more horizontal.
1937 Times 13 Apr. p. xv/1 Six months' intensive development work..has now made it possible for a car to be driven all out..indefinitely with a ceiling oil temperature of 180 deg. F.
1938 Reader's Digest Sept. 1 Even fair price ceilings and quality floors won't answer real needs unless an adequate supply of goods is made available.
1955 L. D. Landau in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 60 The theory considered..seems to have a ‘ceiling’, in that it cannot in principle be used to discuss an energy greater than Λκ.
1956 Jrnl. Educ. July 290 It is helpful to have a ceiling figure for the purchase of furniture in new buildings.
1958 Spectator 15 Aug. 233/1 The national debt ceiling.
Compounds
C1. Mostly attributive, as ceiling-board, ceiling-joist, ceiling-lamp, ceiling-light, ceiling-relievo, ceiling-sky, ceiling-work; also ceiling-wards adv.
ΚΠ
c1520 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 202 Johanni Henryson..sawyng seylyng bordes per iij dies et di., 21d.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms lxxiii. [lxxiv.] 6 They cutt downe all the sylinge worke of ye Sanctuary with bylles & axes.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 68 Seeling Joyses on Cellaring.
1738 E. Chambers Cycl. (ed. 2) (at cited word) A covering of plaister, over laths nailed on the bottom of the joists that bear the floor of the upper room; or where there is no upper room, on joists for the purpose: hence called Ceiling Joists.
1840 T. Hood Miss Kilmansegg i, in New Monthly Mag. 60 90 Nothing but gold!.. On the walls..the ceiling-sky.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) vii. 59 The ceiling lamp is muffled up in a dismal sack of brown holland.
1850 J. Leitch tr. K. O. Müller Ancient Art (new ed.) §402. 537 A Nereid..in a ceiling-relievo at Palmyra.
1879 Daily News 21 Aug. 3/1 These princesses who piously fold their hands and look ceiling-wards.
1915 Pearson's Mag. 39 130 A big room, whose ceiling-lights were veiled with vivid red.
1936 M. Bentinck tr. Colette Saha the Cat i. 20 Camille switched off the ceiling lights as if in play.
C2.
ceiling rose n. (also ceiling rosette) (see quot. 1910).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > incandescent lamp > fixture for
ceiling rose1890
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > ceiling > [noun] > mounting for electric light
rose1885
ceiling rose1890
1890 Brit. Patent 5955/1889 1 (title) Improved ceiling rose or connector for electrical circuits.
1901 L. M. Waterhouse Conduit Wiring 36 The ceiling rose boxes would generally be in the run of the conduit.
1907 Installation News Jan. 16/1 Ceiling roses, switches, wall sockets, etc.
1910 Hawkins' Electr. Dict. Ceiling rose, or rosette, an ornamental ceiling block for suspending an incandescent lamp.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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