c1425 (?a1400) Arthur (Longleat 55) l. 142 Þere was Vrweyn þe kynge Of scottes at þat dynynge.

1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes i. f. 129 O thou manne saied he, I aske thee for a dynyng.

1793 M. E. Bowes Confessions Countess Strathmore 84 To send messages, or deliver notes about plays, operas, dinings, tea-drinking, &c.

a1817 J. Austen Persuasion (1818) III. viii. 145 This was but the beginning of other dinings and other meetings. View more context for this quotation

1905 Bob Taylor's Mag. Apr. 74/2 We have been invited to a dining at Mrs. Rabbit's and we are sure to have a good time.

2012 Internat. Business Times News (Nexis) 13 Apr. Before addressing the students at Yale University, the 46-year-old actor attended a reception ceremony and a dining at Timothy Dwight College.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xii. l. 391 In the Ost It was dyneng tyme, Fore it was ny noon, And passed þ^e pryme.

1648 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple (ed. 2) 84 Whole days, & suns devour'd with endlesse dyning.

1673 R. Allestree Ladies Calling i. v. 109 Their time of dining..is often as late as the stationary hours of the Primitive Fasts.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1763 I. 216 The mode of dining..at such houses in London, is..particularly unsocial.

1820 Ld. Byron Blues ii. 8 What with driving and visiting, dancing and dining.

1875 J. L. Milton Spermatorrhœa (ed. 10) iv. 123 Late hours for dining are either injurious or not beneficial.

1937 N.Y. Herald Tribune 5 Sept. vii. 2/2 The idea of combining entertainment on a large scale with dining and dancing is not precisely new in this city.

2009 Independent 31 Dec. (Life section) 7/1 But you can only go so far to encourage people to experience a different way of dining and what Londoners want is to sit down and eat.

1536 in V. Chinnery Oak Furnit. (1979) 35 Dyninge Parlor.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke xxii. f. clxix^v He sheweth theim a great large dinyng parlour.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. i. 144 To pawne both my plate, & the tapestry of my dining chambers . View more context for this quotation

a1627 J. Fletcher & T. Middleton Nice Valour ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Uuu/1 What a great space there is Betwixt loves dyning Chamber, and his Garret?

1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph II. 317 She asked..why I had not been shewn into the dining-parlour.

1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 169 The dining-parlour..might pass for his only sitting room.

a1894 R. L. Stevenson In South Seas (1896) i. xv. 146 In his delight in the reverberating mirrors of the dining cabin..he showed himself engagingly a child.

1951 Daily Tel. 22 Mar. 6/2 There is a glass-walled dining terrace which overlooks a rose garden and the river.

1989 A. Aird 1990 Good Pub Guide 231 The small but elegant dining-lounge of this ancient inn is a soothingly civilised place to embark on what can be an elaborate dinner.

2007 D. Court Mother's Courage (2008) viii. 174 When she went into the dining parlour, Eloise came face to face with the rest of Queenie's lodgers.

1888 Standard 24 Dec. 2/5 The vestibule of the building being arranged as a bazaar and elegant lounge, together with a restaurant, private dining alcoves, smoking galleries, and luncheon and tea rooms.

1906 M. H. Baillie-Scott Houses & Gardens iv. 20 The introduction as an appendage to the hall of a dining recess.

1921 Ames (Iowa) Daily Tribune 27 Sept. 3/1 The serving booths for the dining area are to be covered with autumn colors.

1937 M. Hillis Orchids on your Budget ix. 150 A large living-room with a dining-alcove.

1962 H. Calisher Seacoast of Bohemia in Tale for Mirror 71 He walked into the dining nook and poured himself a stiff drink.

2005 Financial Times 21 Sept. 15/1 Attractive kitchen with dining recess leading onto a shaded terrace with barbecue.

2014 Ideal Home Apr. 66/1 The original kitchen became a dining area and Paul designed a double-height kitchen extension.

1803 S. Weston Praise of Paris viii. 25 There are other dining places of good credit, where on paying four livres in the rue St. Honoré, you go and come as you like after your first introduction, which is necessary wherever you go.

1833 Times 26 July (advt.) Wanted, in a respectable dining establishment,..an active young woman, who thoroughly understands soups and pastry.

1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day (ed. 3) iii. 55 One of the best ‘temperance’ dining-places in London.

1938 Amer. Speech 13 157/1 Cheeseburgers, made of ham and cheese..may now be had in many dining places.

2012 Times of India (Nexis) 25 Apr. A late-night dining outlet for nocturnals in Mangalore.

2017 Northern Echo (Electronic ed.) 4 Oct. The humble ‘parmo’..has now been poshed up so that it appears on the menus of the most fashionable dining establishments.

1879 Aberdeen Jrnl. 16 Oct. 5/1 (headline) Railway dining carriages.

1889 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 18 Jan. 3/1 The cars were better lighted than they usually are by other means, and in the dining coach especially the effect was brilliant.

1935 Times 31 July 11/5 As the locomotive, luggage van, and dining carriage were derailed, the bandits..poured repeated volleys on the train.

2012 J. C. Rogers I Remember Them 39 She decided to go to the dining coach for a bite to eat.

2020 J. Pryce in A. J. Kenyon et al. Managing Hospitality Experiences 53 This was Jessica's second year of working on the train and in the dining carriage.

1577 J. Bishop Beautifull Blossomes f. 42^v There were in the middes of the shippe three faire dining chambers, hauing in them thirtie dining beddes.

1591 H. Savile tr. Tacitus Ende of Nero: Fower Bks. Hist. i. 46 Otho standing vpon his dining bed..at last..refrained their rage.

1822 J. C. Robertson & T. Byerley Percy Anecd. 159 The dining bed..on which the ancients lay at meals, was about four or five feet high.

1999 Jrnl. Soc. Archit. Historians 58 398/2 The guests went from being arranged on individual dining beds in view of each other to being arranged on a kind of sloping semicircular communal dais in view of others.

1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 61 An infant squib of the Innes of Court, that hath not halfe greased his dining cappe, or scarce warmed his Lawyers cushion.

1779 Ann. Reg. 1778 93/2 I..sat her in a common dining-chair.

1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 612/3 Kitchen and Dining Chairs—All wood.

1970 Country Life 1 Oct. (Suppl.) 34 (advt.) [A] set of 8 18th century Walnut Dining Chairs of unusual design.

2006 Lancs. Life Feb. 19/1 In the dining room a pale wood table is complemented by pale green dining chairs.

1792 St. James's Chron. 23–5 Oct. The men, therefore, are almost universally formed into dining-clubs.

1876 New Remedies Aug. 225/2 The gastronomical are provided for by the advent of a monthly dining-club.

2016 Financial Times (Nexis) 16 Jan. 2 Oxford's first female vice-chancellor has moved quickly to assert her view on the ancient university's more questionable traditions, labelling as ‘completely unacceptable’ the riotous all-male Bullingdon dining club.

1820 T. Ragbotham Siege Manch. 16 The doughty heroes, too, together met, Each in his dining coat.

1897 E. MacMahon Touchstone of Life ix. 92 He brushed away an imaginary crumb from the silk collar of his dining-coat.

1950 Tatler 14 June 556/2 The dinner of the Nulli Secundus Club was an imposing affair, at which many of the senior officers of the Regiment wore the Club dining coat, which has not been seen in London since pre-war days.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes 55/3 A great chamber, or dyning hall.

a1722 J. Lauder Jrnls. (1900) 172 The dining hall, a large roome with a great many tables.

1815 View N.Y. State Prison 12 A corresponding room in the south wing is used as a dining-hall.

1910 H. H. Richardson Getting of Wisdom (1982) vii. 54 At eight, the boarders assembled in the dining-hall for prayers and breakfast.

2013 @nick_spooner 24 Jan. in twitter.com (accessed 22 Apr. 2021) #primaryschoolmemories Dropping a stink bomb in the dining hall with Scott Storey.

1805 Newburyport (Mass.) Herald 16 Aug. (advt.) Just Received by Joseph Hooper..Sixty Crates Earthen Ware... Also..Dining Sets China.

1816 Savannah (Georgia) Republican 10 Dec. An Invoice of Cabinet Furniture, comprising an elegant assortment of Sideboards,..breakfast and tea Tables, dining Sets.

1917 Pop. Mech. Apr. 123/1 (advt.) Beautiful Complete 48-Piece Dining Set..exquisitely decorated with latest rose floral pattern... Six dinner plates,..6 breakfast plates,..6 cups, 6 saucers, 6 fruit dishes,..1 meat platter, [etc.].

1988 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 24 Apr. (At Home section) h4 Gather your family and friends around this popular outdoor dining set... The table..easily seats eight on the four curved benches.

2011 J. Cullen tr. E. Sacheri Secret in their Eyes 38 The dining set.., six chairs and a table crowded together into too narrow a space, had..no relationship whatsoever to the style of the decor.

1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Giii Placinge theyr dyninge table harde by the same.

1594 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 244 [In] the Haull, Towe dyninge tables.

1794 T. Sheraton Cabinet-maker & Upholsterer's Drawing-bk. (new ed.) II. 356 It will accommodate five persons to a dining-table.

1875 W. S. Hayward Love against World 2 He took the seat at the foot of the dining-table.

1911 J. Story in T. C. Smout & S. Wood Sc. Voices 1745–1960 iii. 37 The furniture was nearly all rosewood and old Spanish mahogany, especially the many leaved dining tables, my mother's particular pride.

2009 A. T. Nwaubani I do not come to you by Chance (2010) xxi. 169 My mother cooked, we ate together on the dining table.

1829 Diary Occurr. Journ. Belgium to Paris 15 The noise, the bustle, and the smoking of the dining and the supping guests were of a description, that under any other circumstances would have rendered the house ineligible for a lodging.

1986 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 11 Dec. (Eastern Herald section) 1 A toy room, functional tablewear and waiters whose smiles never seem to falter,..put dining children, not to mention parents, at ease.

2008 R. Huntley Eating between Lines 95 She sits amid a sea of dining couples... Exposed and vulnerable, she accidentally tips over a wine glass.