1556 Protocol Bk. T. Dalrymple (Edinb. Reg. House) f. 36 Annullacioun, reduccioun & receding of the said contrack.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Ggg4^v When there is once a receding from the word of God. View more context for this quotation

1662 in G. W. T. Omond Arniston Mem. (1887) 24 Which will in nowayes inferr a receding from any point of it.

1752 L. Carter Jrnl. House of Burgesses 15 Apr. in Diary (1965) I. 105 It came to be debated whether we should not recede with an amendment to that Amendment... If we receded it..this receding must be to the whole.

1786 J. Gillies Hist. Anc. Greece I. viii. 246 The changes in the face of the country, produced mainly by the receding of the sea, may be seen in the splendid work of Mons. Choileul Gouffier.

1819 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 453/2 It was lashing and throwing up the water with its tail, on finding Itself hampered by the receding of the tide.

1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age lx. 543 A receding of tides, a quieting of the storm-wash to a murmurous surf-beat.

1938 A. Meighen in H. Borden R. L. Borden Introd. p. xiii One is saddened indeed to think that within the space of his own fast fleeting years he should witness the inexorable receding of the horizon of his hopes.

1977 French Rev. 51 249 Desire..comprises a surging and receding of impressions, an unresolved tension between effusion and silence.

2002 M. W. Filtzer Making of Chinese Industr. Workplace viii. 256 It has been the very receding of party committee dominance at the local level..that have brought far-reaching change.

1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations l. 265 The Spring and Autumn do insue upon the Approaching and Receding Sun.

1671 Philos. Trans. 1670 (Royal Soc.) 5 2050 The Bladders having been prick'd, the receding Air had left behind it nothing but skins.

1731 D. Mallet Eurydice i. v. 14 Be it thy farther care, As the receding flood forsakes the shore, To make strict search thro' all this coast around For Periander's Corpse.

1781 W. Cowper Charity 147 The sable warrior..Loses in tears the far receding shore.

1805 E. Clark Banks of Douro III. 299 Embittering the receding moments of existence.

1866 T. H. Huxley in S. Laing Pre-hist. Remains Caithness 98 The forehead is smooth and not receding.

1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray iii. 103 A man..with a low forehead, a receding chin, a vacuous expression.

1928 Garden & Home Builder Aug. 561/2 Pure gray is a receding color and cool in effect.

1956 Jrnl. Theol. Stud. 7 18 The incidence of the gradually receding preposition παρά supports the impression.

1999 D. Perry & A. Ironside Israel & Quest for Permanence v. 89 A 33-year-old former surfer..who in recent years had lost his long blond locks to a receding hairline.