OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) xxvi. 223 Swa hwylc preost swa to late cume to tidsange oððe to beodferse, oððe him his ealdor hwylcne sealmsang oððe mæssunge bebeode, and he þæt forgyme [etc.].

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 3589 Four maners of helpes..prayer and fastyng And almus dede and messyng.

1542 H. Brinkelow Lamentacion sig. Cvii I wyll exhort all pryestes..to flee and geue ouer that abhominable Massing, which is a blasphemy to Christes bloudde.

1546 J. Bale Actes Eng. Votaryes: 1st Pt. f. 18 Pranked vp with tabernacles and lyghtes, sensynges and massynges.

1661 J. Stephens Hist. Disc. Procur. 111 I cannot fix the original of this due, forasmuch as the act of Massing quolibet die dominico being too generall..doth not fitly denominate the pay.

1814 W. Scott Waverley II. xiii. 202 O! it would grieve your honour's soul to see the murmuring, and the singing, and massing, that's in the kirk. View more context for this quotation

1850 Elder's House 166 These Catholics are always for praying and massing.

1962 V. J. K. Brook Life Abp. Parker xv. 260 All that Parker seems to have done..was to press for additions to the number of the ecclesiastical commission because of the increase in massing.

1566 Answere for Tyme 132 Being required of papisticall persecutours to do on all their massing apparell.

1583 in A. Peel Seconde Parte Reg. (1915) I. 212 Yf wee subscribe unto the booke we subscribe unto the massinge apparell.

1554 H. Hilarie Resurreccion of Masse sig. B^v My massing chaplens and the massehunters Know these thinges too be trew.

1610 Bp. J. Hall Common Apol. against Brownists §46 What meane you to charge our churches with ‘carued and painted images’?.. What more? ‘Massing copes and surplices’.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iv. xi. 189 All their Massing furniture almost they tooke from the lawe.

1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 5th Serm. sig. Pvii Scala celi, is a preachynge matter I tell you, and not a massing mater.

c1560 T. Mowntayne Autobiogr. in J. G. Nichols Narr. Reformation (1859) 193 I tel yow thys ys no maseynge matter, neyther yet wyll any pardones..sarve your turne.

1568 V. Skinner tr. R. González de Montes Discouery Inquisition of Spayne f. 70 They dispoyled him of those vile and wicked Massing robes.

1623 T. Goad Dolefull Even-song sig. C2^v A Chamber..being the vsuall Massing roome for the English resorting thither.

1571 J. Northbrooke Spiritus est Vicarius Christi: Poore Mans Garden Ep. Ded. 1 More diligent to mooue them to believe in..the Massing Sacrifice, then Christes Oblation.

1612 T. James Treat. Corruption Script. (new ed.) i. 5 (margin) Massing vestiments.

1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Rom. x. 2) He thought he had never sufficiently mingled his massing wine with water.

1656 P. Heylyn Surv. Estate France 180 In this Massing Closet over the Altar there was hanged a tablet.

1607 R. C. tr. H. Estienne World of Wonders 294 The Massing-mate [Fr. messatizant] hath the Deacon and Subdeacon to assist him.

1554 H. Hilarie Resurreccion of Masse sig. B I wolde therfore that no man should maruel Though massingpriestes do stoutly holde with me.

1574 tr. Life 70. Archbishopp Canterbury To Rdr. sig. Fij It had some reason to call the Massinge Prieste, a priste secular.

1656 H. Jeanes Treat. Fulnesse of Christ 63 in Mixture Scholasticall Divinity Their massing priests, and masse sacrifice.

1804 H. K. White Let. 7 May in Remains (1807) I. 107 What painters call the massing, or getting the effect of the more prominent lights and shades by broad dashes of the pencil.

1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 5/1 Mixed Pansy... In our latitude many of them are biennial, dwarf, and adapted for massing.

1870 Daily News 9 Dec. 5/6 To-day there has been a massing of German troops, but no fighting.

1937 Discovery July 212/2 Broad massing of light and shade.

1991 Air Force Mag. June 62/2 It allows you to see what the enemy is doing in terms of movement, in terms of massing.

2001 M. M. Corbett et al. Law of Succession in S. Afr. (ed. 2) xx. 437 There has been ‘massing’, that is, the spouses have consolidated their property or part of their property into one mass, for joint disposition after the survivor's death.

1825 Lancet 27 Aug. 236/2 The author next proceeds to describe the process of massing, which does not appear to differ much from that of shampooing.

1844 R. Dunglison Dict. Med. Sci. (ed. 4) Massing, shampooing.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 573 Without going so far as to make massing a closed profession.