1347–8 9th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS: Pt. 1 (1883) App. 18 in Parl. Papers (C. 3773) XXXVII. 1 Quod unaqueque postis..sit firmiter conjuncta cum alia et quod sit longitudinis a fundamento terre usque ad summitatem wharfi duodecim pedum, que quidem constructio vocatur Anglice Nedlyng.

1560–1 in R. Adam Edinb. Rec. (1899) II. 143 For scaffeting..xij garrouns for nedling for iij^s the pece.

1584 in F. G. Emmison Elizabethan Life (1973) (modernized text) II. 274 The barn lieth unthatched and undaubed in the east end, it lacketh a groundsel, and the north end lacketh underpinning, needling [inserting temporary beams during an underpinning operation], and daubing.

1683 Sheriffhall Coal Acct. Bks. 22 Dec. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Nedling For neidling at 10 s. a day.

1864–87 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) (at cited word) One of the most important examples of needling was that performed at Bayeux cathedral.

1901 J. Black Illustr. Carpenter & Builder Ser.: Scaffolding 48 Fig. 3..gives needling of bottom shore and strutting to top and second rakers.

1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Dec. 59/2 Needling, the process of underpinning in which needles are used in the support of the upper part of the building.

1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 49 Needling, a builder's term for perpendicular studding, to part off the acute angle of a roof.

1609 in A. Shearer Extracts Burgh Rec. Dunfermline (1951) 62 Quhilk wound was lairge four inche lang & ressavit four neidill takis to the neidling thairof.

1635 J. Reynolds Triumphs Gods Revenge (new ed.) v. xxiii. 474 He caused her to become, not superficiall, but artificiall therein, as in Dancing, Musicke, Singing, Painting, Writing, Needling, and the like.

1850 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 68 287/1 Cutting, lacing, needling, and twines £130.

1878 G. A. Sala in Gentleman's Mag. May 565 The last [engraving] being at least three parts of machine work to one of free~handed needling.

1977 Engin. Materials & Design Aug. 46/2 The product is essentially chopped glass fibre strands which are mechanically bonded by a needling process to give excellent particle stability.

1982 P. Rance Great Brit. Cheese Bk. i. iii. 65 The cheese is pierced by compressed-air jets, which..replaces the conventional needling on the turntable.

1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 483 Cataracts..dealt with by needling, suction, and a..capsular operation.

1903 Westm. Gaz. 15 Apr. 5/1 The operation is technically known as ‘needling,’ and is, we understand, necessary in something like forty-three percent. of the operations that are performed for cataract.

1925 Amer. Naturalist 59 105 In from 7 to 10 days after the needling operation the serum of each rabbit was again tested for lens precipitins.

1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xix. 268 If the opacity is large, the operation of discission (needling) is necessary whereby the capsule is perforated.

1977 Brit. Jrnl. Surg. 64 113 Using ultrasound, an amoebic abscess can be accurately located within the liver and the optimal site for needling suggested to the clinician.

1989 Clin. Endocrinol. 31 565 Foetal samples were collected by transabdominal needling from the placental cord insertion.

2002 Jrnl. Glaucoma 11 183 Two patients in whom aqueous misdirection developed after trabeculectomy refractory to standard medical and laser therapy underwent transcorneal needling.

1929 Science 13 Dec. 564/1 Anatomical charts were assembled which formed the basis for the curious art of needling or acupuncture.

1936 K. C. Wong Hist. Chinese Med. (ed. 2) i. 3 ‘Needling’ occupied a rather important position in ancient times. It developed into the art of acupuncture.

1971 F. Mann Acupuncture (ed. 2) xii. 201 At one moment on the second day I thought I was going to seize up as I've done before and I thought ‘I must get to Dr. Mann for a needling.’

1987 Jrnl. Alternative Med. Feb. 7/4 In the study, the needling was carried out by Dr. Jing Hua Chen..with help from some British acupuncturists.

1997 Esquire Dec. 143/2 According to acupuncturists, nicotine addicts should submit to four to six needlings.

1941 Sun (Baltimore) 10 Jan. 12/7 The word ‘needling’..is being used more and more frequently in the sense of using sharp bits of persuasion to bring a person to adopt a desired course.

1945 Sun (Baltimore) 17 Feb. 7/3 P.K.W...was plainly irked by some sharp needling of his group.

1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Nov. 698/5 She undergoes, still buoyant, the familiar needlings of interrogation.

1973 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 28 Oct. 2/1 He was the great complainer of his time, and..Victoria became a better place because of his needling.

1988 M. Seymour Ring of Conspirators iv. 119 Any irritation Henry may have felt at this persistent and uncalled for needling was forgotten two months later.