probingn.
/ˈprəʊbɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈproʊbɪŋ/ The action of probe v. (in various senses); an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > [noun] > by boring, piercing, or perforating > with sharp-pointed instrument
stickingeOE
stabbingc1425
steeking1488
jobbinga1578
spitting1623
probing1665
impunction1712
spiking1775
skewering1794
jagging1815
pierce1820
eyelet holing1845
society > travel > air or space travel > space flight > [noun] > specific manoeuvres or operations
star tracking1947
rendezvous1951
probing1958
spin-stabilization1961
link-up1965
undocking1966
1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue I. xiv. 42 For his Mistress I was forced to send for a Chyrurgeon, whose wound needed no probing, but tenting, for it was through and through.
1680 T. Otway Orphan iv. 46 Every probing pains me to the heart.
1690 W. Mountfort Successfull Straingers v. 46 Well Sir, and how long must I endure your probings and your Cullices?
a1743 R. Savage Sir Thomas Overbury (1777) i. i. 128 The wound can ne'er be cur'd that shuns the probing!
1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom II. xlvi. 83 That probing will rouse you to a due sense of your own dignity and importance.
1839 F. Marryat Phantom Ship I. ii. 35 The probing of the wound would half unseat my reason.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. xi. 146 ‘He were drowned,’ said Mrs. Boucher, feebly, beginning to cry for the first time, at this rough probing of her sorrows.
1898 E. von Arnim Elizabeth & her German Garden 52 I began about Adam and Eve, with an eye to future parsonic probings.
1912 Contemp. Rev. Nov. 654 Indictments and bills in equity became the order of the day, and ‘probings’ and ‘shake-ups’ the common talk of business men.
1958 Listener 20 Nov. 822/2 If the probing [of the moon] is carried out recklessly..then the extra-terrestrial bodies will be contaminated.
1991 Ess. in Crit. 41 40 Chekhov's..probing of..relationships between literature and life is especially marked in The Seagull.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
probingadj.
/ˈprəʊbɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈproʊbɪŋ/ That probes; piercing, penetrating; inquisitive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > [adjective] > engaged in investigation
perquiring1598
exploratory1620
zetetic1645
zetetical1646
disquisitive1647
probing1749
disquisitorial1806
investigating1830
perusing1878
pickbrain1903
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > cause of mental anguish or torment > [adjective]
anguishous?c1225
wounding?c1225
asperc1374
derflya1400
rending?c1400
furiousc1405
fretting1413
piercingc1450
anguish1477
piquant1521
anguishing?1566
plaguing1566
asperous?1567
agonizing1570
tormenting1575
wringing1576
cutting1582
tormentous1583
tormentful1596
tormentuous1597
racking1598
torturous1600
lacerating1609
torturing1611
tearinga1616
heart-aching1620
breast-rending1625
crucifying1648
tormentative1654
martyring?a1656
tormentive1655
discruciating1658
cruciatory1660
anguishful1685
brain-racking1708
probing1749
agonized1793
anguished1803
harrowing1810
vulnerary1821
grinding1869
torturesome1889
wrenching1889
tortuous1922
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > [adjective] > piercing
bearingOE
stickinga1250
thirlingc1380
piercinga1400
lancentc1400
prunyeand1533
broaching1566
empiercing1604
pouncing1798
cleaving1819
intrenchant1833
probing1868
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 199 On which he withdrew his curious probing fingers, asking me pardon, as it were, in a kiss that rather increas'd the flame there.
1815 E. B. Norton Alcon Malanzore iv. 118 Thou art the test of good—the probing steel, That can its truth, its nature, and its depth reveal.
1868 R. Browning Ring & Bk. II. vi. 217 She feels The probing spear o' the huntsman.
1869 A. Austin Season 25 Our Vicious Age shrinks, cognisant of blame, From probing Manhood, with a sickly shame.
1876 G. Meredith Beauchamp's Career III. viii. 138 Rosamund primmed her lips at the success of her probing touch.
1909 Daily Chron. 10 Aug. 7/2 He answered probing, keenly-put questions with dogged determination not to betray himself.
1964 G. Roddenberry in S. E. Whitfield & G. Roddenberry Making of ‘Star Trek’ (1968) i. vi. 86 A probing Laser beam which deflects and/or destroys dust and small particles from the path of the ship.
1992 J. P. L. Roberts in G. Gould Sel. Lett. p. x In endeavouring to shut out people who were too critical, confrontational, or probing, Gould went to endless pains to try to control every situation.
Derivatives
ˈprobingly adv. in a probing manner; intimately; inquisitively.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [adverb]
narrowlyeOE
closely1509
searchingly1574
close1642
pressly1642
scrutinously1650
minutely1690
scrutinizingly1828
probingly1876
scanningly1876
vivisectionally1899
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda III. v. xl. 186 He could have no conception what that demand was to the hearer—how probingly it touched the hidden sensibility.
1895 Scribner's Mag. July 65/1 ‘And a lawyer?’ Mrs. Edwards continued, probingly.
1944 Amer. Lit. 16 152 Others of similar nature are presented, but never probingly examined.
2005 Independent (Nexis) 9 July He talked sympathetically and probingly to this awkward 16-year-old schoolgirl who loved his music.
ˈprobingness n. rare the state or condition of being probing; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > [noun] > a pang > quality of
probingness1800
1800 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 10 320 There is often a tenderness yet a probingness in the pathos.
1986 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 44 399/2 It is arguments of this kind about the necessary expressiveness, or probingness into obscurity, of human life as a whole.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1665adj.1749