c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) xv. 11 Delitynges [c1400 Trin. Dublin delites; L. delectationes] ben in þy riȝt honde vnto þe ende.

a1586 in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 238 Better war leif my paper quhyt And tak me to vther delyting.

1892 E. Arnold Potiphar's Wife 27 Leather will last When loves, and delightings, and beautiful things Have vanished, forgotten.

c1390 Form of Confession (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 340 I knowleche me gulti..of alle þe sunnes þat ich haue greuousliche sunged..as in word, in werk, in wille, in þouȝt, in speche, in delytyng, in concentyng, and in dede-doing.

c1475 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Caius) l. 4512 Theron was tho all his deliting [c1330 Auch. likeinge].

1640 Sir R. Baker in C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David (1874) IV. Ps. lxxxiv. 2 His Tabernacles..must needs work in me an infinite delighting.

1748 P. Doddridge in R. Leighton Expository Wks. & Other Remains I. Pref. p. xviii A Diversity of Judgment, with regard to Episcopacy, and several Forms both of Discipline and Worship connected with it, have produced in my Mind no Alienation, no Indifference towards Archbishop Leighton, nor prevented my delighting in his Works.

1859 Gospel Herald 28 191/2 All holy affections and graces combine in this spirit of delighting in God.

1989 White Horse Inn in G. M. Brown Masked Fisherman 29 All the delightings of men are vanity.

2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Sept. 14/2 Is there a certain schadenfreude in play, a delighting in the fact that mayhem and delinquency occur in countries long regarded as role models and consciences?

1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 373 I woulde know to what purpose a man as you that hath passed three score yeares..will now take a Curtesan young and faire, which will rather occupy hir self in robbing, then deliting of you?

?a1750 S. Clarke 16 Discourses 325 They must value..the Direction of their Wills and Affections, above the tickling of their Ears, and delighting of their Fancy.

1853 H. H. Pierson tr. I. von Seyfried L. van Beethoven's Stud. in Thorough-bass App. 5 Art was to him..not used for the display of pedantic learning but for the delighting of his audience.

1944 H. C. Duffin Walter de la Mare (1949) i. ii. 30 In poetry and rhythmic prose, this takes the form of a delighting of the ear.

2008 Daily Press (Newport, Va.) (Nexis) 25 Dec. a19 There is something that reassures the spirit about a holiday that makes sharing its defining activity—the giving of gifts, the delighting of children, the gatherings and meals.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 9 Þer be 3 intensions of kynd of distribucion of neruez:..Anoþer forsoþ in alle oþer Censitinez [read censitiuez] for knowing of þinges delityng & heuiyng.

1567 J. Sanford tr. Epictetus Manuell xxii. f. 11 What is our life? a gawish game, a sweete delighting play.

1613 A. Sherley Relation Trav. Persia 131 This withering peace which you haue with the Turke..is more delighting for the present, then safe for the future.

1772 J. Spencer Hermas I. 31 One thankful hymn, one heart delighting strain, Join'd chorus round, and chear'd the fielden plain.

1814 Forgery iv. ii, in J. Galt New Brit. Theatre I. 474 Let me..praise Heaven for the delighting pledge.

1963 Alton (Illinois) Evening Tel. 12 Sept. 26/9 A candy bar choo-choo also makes a child-delighting dessert centerpiece for the party table.

2019 @mjrichardson1 2 Apr. in twitter.com (accessed 5 Nov. 2019) Arrived in Hong Kong to the delighting news that all the students have already arrived and checked in!

1601 R. Chester Loves Martyr 117 The Spring-delighting bird we call the Cuckow.

1732 R. Drury Devil of Duke iii. 13 When harsh Care has dispossess'd The delighting Monarch's Rest, 'Tis Anarchy within.

1755 W. Dodd tr. Theocritus Encomium of Ptolemy in Hymns of Callimachus 194 O'er all Sole monarch reigns great Ptolemy..: Cilicia's war-delighting race, Pamphylians, Lydians, and the Carians own His universal pow'r.

1888 R. B. Davenport Death-blow to Spiritualism viii. 119 Many strange stories..were told at the fireside with such embellishment as will inevitably come from recital and repetition to a wonder-delighting audience.

2011 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 12 Mar. 34 (headline) Dublin your fun for St Patty's day—encounter the delighting Irish before and after the big parade.