?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. v. sig. c.iij Y^e women wylbe takyn with lyght suspicions, and ofte complayne and vexe their husbandes, and angre them withe peuyshe puelyng.

1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle i. i. sig. A.ii^v With whewling and pewling, as though they had lost a trump.

1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 224 Let the Songs be Loud, and Cheerefull, and not Chirpings, or Pulings.

1658 W. Sanderson Compl. Hist. Life King Charles 422 Weak Women, who have more strength in their pewling, than Sampson had in his Locks.

1717 C. Gildon tr. Heliodorus Adventures Theagenes & Chariclia II. vii. 72 Lay aside all these weak and childish Pulings.

1854 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes I. xxix. 286 Be a man Jack, and have no more of this puling.

1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 908 The voice is enfeebled to whinings and fretful pulings.

1916 E. Pound Let. 30 Jan. in F. Read Pound/Joyce (1970) 65 These vermin crawl over and be-slime our literature with their pulings.

1996 R. Mistry Fine Balance (1997) iii. 139 ‘Even when he is hungry there is no puling or mewling,’ Radha became fond of boasting.

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 386 Catoes sonne..was such a weake pulinge, that he coulde not away with much hardnesse.

1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys i. f. x^v So myche and in suche wyse as we sely poore pewlyng sowles neyther can deuyse nor vtter.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. v. 183 A wretched whyning foole, A puling mammet. View more context for this quotation

1649 J. Milton Tenure of Kings 5 The unmasculine Rhetorick of any puling Priest.

1781 W. Cowper Expostulation 474 While yet thou [sc. Britain] wast a grov'ling puling chit.

1857 W. Collins Dead Secret I. ii. i. 75 [She] is not one of the puling, sentimental sort.

1895 H. P. Palmer Mr. Trueman's Secret 101 As if a pulin' thing like you could make a man happy!

1904 S. E. White Rawhide iii, in McClure's Mag. Nov. 25/1 She's no puling infant.

1976 I. Murdoch Henry & Cato i. 20 No wonder the lazy puling left-wing youth were drifting into pointless anarchism.

2006 Boston Globe (Nexis) 26 Mar. n9 The gruff patriarch Big Bob is now a Republican, and his son-in-law, Doug, a puling Democrat who doesn't like guns.

1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus Praise of Folie sig. Fj^v How weake and pewlyng his childhode.

1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew ii. sig. E4^v As well as puling stomacks are made strong By eating against Appetite.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Leic. 126 Lean land will serve for puling pease and faint fetches.

1692 N. Brady Rape i. 5 But shall I, Who nobly past through twenty rough Campaigns, Tamely look on, and see a puling Boy, A young effeminate Stripling, ravish from me A Mistress and a Crown.

1703 C. Gildon Patriot iii. i. 27 Had'st thou The Spirit of a weak, and puling Girle, Thou coud'st not bear it.

1769 R. Cumberland Brothers (1808) 29 He..is a little peaking, puling thing; I am a jolly portable man, as you see.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxv. 220 There was only that puling, sickly Pitt Crawley between Rawdon and a baronetcy.

1931 J. Buchan Blanket of Dark iii. 53 Youth should be a good trencherman. Now, alas! I can only pick like a puling lanner.

2004 Observer (Nexis) 7 Nov. 5 Does Mr Incredible's renunciation mean that the superman has finally despaired of the midget, puling race he was meant to lead onwards and upwards?

1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. F Mistresse, be rulde by me, and doe not speake so pulingly.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Wilts. 146 An erected soul, disdaining pulingly to submit to an infamous death.

1889 T. C. Irwin Poems, Sketches, & Songs 27 Feeble old folk Who pulingly spoke Of the times when they were strong and young.

1999 Toronto Star (Nexis) 19 Sept. It seems beneath King to justify himself so pulingly.