1588 G. Withers View Marginal Notes Popish Test. 62 The diuell was then throwen out of his possession in the first propagating and spreading of the kingdome of Christ.

1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. 390 The propagating of the christian faith.

1644 J. Milton tr. M. Bucer Ivdgem. conc. Divorce 26 If these thir books..shall for the propagating of truth be publisht and republisht, [etc.].

1712 J. Mortimer Art of Husbandry: Pt. II ii. 212 Sweet Williams, or Sweet Johns, are of several sorts, but the double and the Velvet are chiefly worth your propagating.

1794 T. Holcroft Adventures Hugh Trevor I. x. 130 There was a prodigious difference between flesh and blood of a squire's propagating, and that of ordinary breed.

1828 Edinb. Advertiser 9 Dec. 787/4 A letter..regarding the restoring and propagating of the bulbs of hyacinthus orientalis.

1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 320 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV The efforts of the pisciculturists..at their propagating establishment at Stormontfield.

1930 Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune 7 Feb. 5/4 The propagating of wild turkeys in this vicinity is something new.

1998 A. Sturgeon Planted 120/1 Propagating, or making your own plants can be as simple as flinging a handful of seeds on to a bed.

1600 Abp. G. Abbot Expos. Prophet Ionah xxi. 440 It is not sufficient that the heart alone be warme, but the heat of it must be a propagating heate, which may breede the like in the rest of the members.

a1657 G. Daniel Idyllia in Poems (1878) IV. ii. 59 Such propagating Iellyes nere distill Without their Mandrakes; whose first hissings kill.

1709 R. Gould Wks. II. 3 O Lucifer! Thy Regions had been thin, Were't not for Woman's propagating Sin.

1736 T. Yalden tr. Ovid Bk. of Love ii, in Poems (1810) 80 No girl on propagating beasts will gaze, But hangs her head, and turns away her face.

1835 D. P. Thompson Adventures Timothy Peacock xvi. 177 All the superfluous characters of that undiscovered period were engaged in extending the art with the most propagating velocity.

1880 Bot. Gaz. 5 51 P[otamogeton] pusillus..non-flowering but abundantly provided with propagating buds.

1971 Sci. Amer. June 22/1 The energy stored in the inverted population is then available to amplify a propagating light wave at a particular frequency.

1997 Nature 7 Aug. 521/1 Sutton and Allen present..vivid images of propagating and oscillating sea surface temperature..distributions.