c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 1628 Quaþ Merlin..‘Y wil þe telle and noþing lyȝe What þe dragouns signifie’—Þat gentil folk and eke þe king Awondred of his answering.

c1390 Cato's Distichs (Vernon) l. 184 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 568 Ȝif þou, mon, be meke and mylde, ffleo al frouward þing; Þe laste tale to þe furste ȝif non onsweryng.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xix. l. 168 Of Al thing he ȝaf hem Answeringe.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 2180 (MED) Þan was nan honour of answaringis.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) iv. 235 Thai mak ay thair ansuering In-till dowbill vndirstanding.

1510–11 in D. Dymond Reg. Thetford Priory (1995) I. 276 For answeryng at the scherefes torn ij tymes viij^d.

1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 374 As for Damascenes authoritie..it is not worth the aunswering.

1650 H. More Let. 14 Apr. in Conway Lett. (1992) ii. 51 I am sure I am not so uncivill, as that I should ever dare to fayle the answering of you.

1668 S. Pepys Diary 29 Feb. (1900) VII. 346 So ends this month, with a great deal of care and trouble in my head about the answerings of the Parliament.

1675 W. Cunningham Diary 21 Apr. (1887) 53 Given at my answering to the Regalitie Court at Pasley. 00 6 0.

1703 L. Smith Evid. Things not Seen (ed. 2) 124 An Answering of the Objections made in opposition to our Opinion.

1728 tr. R. Aubert de Vertot d'Aubeuf Hist. Knights of Malta II. 140 D'Omedes..soon repented of his having referr'd to the council, the answering of a letter which had been directed to himself only.

1797 T. Twining in Recreat. & Stud. (1882) 194 I received your letter of answerings this morning.

1805 Evangelical Mag. Feb. 50 Lord, thou knowest the sincerity of our resolutions; let our sweetest reward be the answering of these our prayers!

1824 E. Atherstone Midsummer Day's Dream 27 As he pauses, far away I hear Unnumber'd delicate answerings.

1846 Mechanics' Mag. 29 Aug. 201/2 When going fast, a screw steamer will perfectly steer herself, and the answering of her helm be always sure and rapid.

1873 Mothers' Jrnl. 38 173/1 Ah! can you imagine the hurried questionings and answerings, the love and joy between brothers and sisters so long isolated?

1884 N.E.D. at Answering His answering in the examination was excellent.

1915 H. James Sense of Past (1917) 150 To determine wonderments that should be beyond answering.

1920 O. Whiteley Story of Opal x. 76 I went in through and out through, but no answerings did come when I did call.

1973 Keystone Folklore (Pennsylvania Folklore Soc.) 18 91 When the listener does not have such cognitive data, the answering of the riddle becomes extremely difficult.

1984 Contemp. Music Rev. 1 29 It is interesting to note that the arpeggiated chords are a spreading out into several events of what is normally one event, i.e. a chord: an answering of the ‘one’ by the ‘many’.

2004 L. Bolton Facing Other (2010) v. 194 It is also possible to read [John] Brown's religious conviction in terms of an answering to a summons specifically ethical.

2011 Q. Liu & E. Agiichtein in P. Clough et al. Adv. Information Retrieval 71 The user answered 57 questions that day; however, the answering was not distributed uniformly, but was concentrated in relatively short bursts.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 910 Þer cam out men..Pleying by signes in þe peples siȝt, Þat þe poete songon on hiȝt; So þat þer was no maner discordaunce Atwen his dites and her countenaunce: For lik as he aloft[e] dide expresse Wordes of Ioye or of heuynes..byneþe of hem pleying, From point to point was alwey answering.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Análogo, an answering in proportion.

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 2 The answerings or analogies of beings, have been hitherto but ill pitcht or adjusted.

1735 K. Tomlinson Art of Dancing i. xiv. 40 They are seldom used except in Comic Dancing and Tunes of common Time, that is to say, of four in the Bar, as in Gavots, Marches, Rigadoons, &c. in which this Spring or Leap on both Feet is the same, in its answering with the Notes of the Tune.

1858 J. Bayley Divine Word Opened (1887) vii. 111 In the case of the beasts, which represent good dispositions in the heart, there was a full division, and placing of the pieces parallel, over against one another. There was an answering of each to each. They are as the two sides of the covenant.

1912 Drama Mag. (Chicago) May 248 A powerful play..with an answering of part to part (witness the return of Stangy in Act IV to furnish the final occasion of filial ingratitude) that makes the construction as complete and tight as a well-planned, self-contained flat.

2007 M. Hall Without Map iv. 62 As glass shatters and fires ignite, I feel an answering of my own private sorrows.

1589 in Acts Privy Council (1899) XVIII. 339 They have bestowed the Hospitall of Sherborne and made him resigne the benefice of Haughton to a kinseman of theirs, which he had assured for the answering of the debt to the said Forthe.

1601 J. Wheeler Treat. Commerce 71 They buye foreign wares at Norenberghe, and else where vppon credite, for the current answering whereof..they sell their English Clothes.

1658 O. Cromwell Speech 25 Jan. in Lett. & Speeches (1857) III. 337 Let God move your hearts for the answering of anything that shall be due unto the nation.

1767 J. Steuart Inq. Princ. Polit. Oecon. II. xi. 167 Have we not shewn that it is the bank alone who ought to provide coin for the ready answering of their notes?

1779 in Collectanea Juridica (1792) II. vii. 291 I think the Case warrants me in altering my Opinion upon the present Case, so far as to think E. F.'s security good against the estate for life of the son..after the answering of the debt so secured.

1855 T. Hare Cases Chancery X. 52 Applying any of the funds of the Great Northern Company to the payment or answering of the liabilities of the Ambergate Company in respect of the Grantham and Nottingham Canals.

1902 Weekly Reporter 17 May 452/2 A contract for the employment of an agent or a contract for a general vendor of almost any other kind need not be in writing although it incidentally involves an answering of a debt of another person.

1924 Pop. Mech. May 733 (caption) Telephone and answering machine in operating position at left.

1961 Daily Mail 25 July 1/3 The quarterly rent for a coin box is to go up from 11s 3d to £1, but for an answering machine it will go down from £10 to £8.

2006 New Yorker 7 Aug. 29/3 A woman left a message on his answering machine but neglected to leave a number.

1904 Electr. Rev. 17 Dec. 1006/2 In an effort to determine the quality of the service made, many managers are content if the answering service is prompt.

1939 Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer 20 July 6/5 Amsden is the creator of a utility known as Telephone Answering Service, which answers about a million calls a year.

1941 L. G. Blochman See you at Morgue (1946) xiv. 95 I was using the telephone answering service.

1952 W. Marchant To be Continued (1980) 20 I telephoned you yesterday but your answering service told me you were in Connecticut.

1962 Financial Times 13 Oct. 10/6 The machine gives an automatic answering service and records any incoming messages.

1963 Negro Digest May 15/1 Let her save up for an answering service.

1984 Listener 1 Nov. 2/3 BT runs..radio phones and pagers, answering services, and recently has even gone into manufacturing its own slimphones.

1985 K. Govier in R. Sullivan More Stories by Canad. Women (1987) 56 She started calling around... Joanne wasn't home. Don wasn't home. Don's boss wasn't home. Ellen had her answering service on.

1999 C. Dolan Ascension Day (2000) viii. 164 When she got home, there was a message for her on her answering service, which was a nice surprise.

2008 Daily Independent (Ashland, Kentucky) (Nexis) 31 Mar. When a local family does have an emergency situation, it is usually James who picks up the telephone instead of an answering service.

1938 Canad. Patent Office Rec. 66 355/1 In an answering system, a main exchange, answering lines terminating in said exchange, means for connecting said lines to subscribers' lines to receive calls.

1941 Robesonian (Lumberton, N. Carolina) 15 Apr. 3/2 Fort Worth, Texas, was the only city to have a Time Teller service before Charlotte..and now that has been changed to a mechanical answering system.

1954 Muscatine (Iowa) Jrnl. 24 Apr. 3/5 After regular office hours your call is recorded on our automatic answering system.

1993 B. Moyers Healing & Mind i. 53 If around forty percent of your patients are monolingual Spanish, it's not good having an English answering system.

2009 R. Caroll Blackmail xiii. 124 He'd tried to call her last night, but there'd been no answer. Not even voice mail. Who in this day and age didn't have an answering system of some sort?

c1443 [implied in: R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 188 No dede is allowid..saue which is doon answeryngly to þe doom of resoun. (at answeringly adv.)].

1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Love in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 94 A womanly woman..in whom of goodnesse, of vertue, and also of answeringe shappe of limmes and fetures..nothing fayleth.

1566 T. Heskyns Parl. Chryste ii. lxiv. f. ccxxiv^v Theophilact saied, that the bread that ys sanctified on the aultar ys the verie bodie of our Lord, and not an aunswering figure.

a1637 B. Jonson Newes from New World 40 in Wks. (1640) III I have friends of all rancks, and of all Religions, for which I keepe an answering Catalogue of dispatch.

1675 S. Loveday Alarm to Slumbring Christians 259 Thou must do thy alms with discretion so as it may be most answering to his needs and his profit.

1782 J. Barlow Elegy Titus Hosmer 14 The bliss that wayward mortals seldom find, That lifts the frequent suppliant to the skies, While answering blessings fill the raptur'd mind.

1801 R. Southey Thalaba II. xii. 321 For where the sceptre in the Idol's hand Touched the Round Altar, in its answering realm Earth felt the stroke.

1846 R. C. Trench Christ Desire of All Nations v. 98 The world's expectation..has an answering fact.

1884 R. S. Storrs Divine Orig. Christianity iv. 132 It will only come as the answering result to faithful heroic endurance and work.

1920 ‘Sepharial’ Kabala of Numbers (new ed.) I. i. 10 In this system—1. Denotes individuality and possible egotism, sef-reliance, affirmation, distinction. 2. [etc.]... In this scheme the answering planets are respectively—1. The Sun. [Etc.]

2006 Y. J. Choi Dialogue & Antithesis v. 226 The divine norm for economic life is that of stewardship. [Bob] Goudzwaard understands this mandate of stewardship in the context of the answering structure of creation and human responsibility.

1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia vi. sig. L6 His dumbe seal'd-vpp lipps no murmur made, Only an answering tongue, and voice he had [L. vox..linguaque tantum responsura datur].

1729 A. Pope Dunciad (new ed.) iii. 140 And answ'ring Gin-shops sowrer sighs return.

1796 J. Cottle Poems 172 These eyes no more with joy must shine, And never meet the answering glance of thine.

1801 R. Southey Thalaba I. v. 314 In awe the youth received the answering voice.

1847 Irish Equity Rep. 9 206 In the case of only one answering defendant, as in the present suit, no particular object is to be effected by dividing and numbering the interrogating part of the bill.

1892 Antananarvio Ann. & Madagascar Mag. 4 395 When the cannon are fired in the Capital at the feast of the new year, answering salvos of ghostly artillery are said to be heard from the mountain top.

1909 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Avonlea v. 44 A sudden answering smile..born of no external effort or motive.

1961 T. Williams Night of Iguana (1991) i. 13 Shouts ‘Fred’' and gets a faint answering echo from an adjoining hill.

2004 D. Lodge Author, Author i. 14 When the work was going well..a kind of rhythm developed between HJ's lucent utterance and Theodora's answering staccato on the keyboard.