?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) v. pr. v. l. 4907 But how shal it þan be yif þat wit and ymaginacioun stryuen aȝeins resonynge [L. ratiocinationi].

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iv. l. 1046 I may wel make..My resonynge of goddes pourueyaunce, And of þe thinges, þat to comen be.

c1454 R. Pecock Folewer to Donet 74 (MED) Many men wolen wondre whi ȝe graunten oure natural resonyng to haue so mych place about þe gendryng and þe contynuyng of feiþ.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. lxix. f. xxiiii^v For resonyng and profe of this was after assygned .vii. score Iewes.

a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 91 Hyt ys a commyn faute in resonyng to lay a faute ther as non ys.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. i. 1 There is no reazoning against those which deny the Principles.

1644 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce (ed. 2) To Parl. sig. A2^v Who..make it their chiefe designe to envie and cry-down the industry of free reasoning.

1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. ii. 20 By Right Reason in the naturall state of men, I understand not, as many doe, an infallible faculty, but the act of reasoning, that is, the peculiar and true ratiocination of every man concerning those actions of his which may either redound to the dammage, or benefit of his neighbours.

1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World ii. 153 A little Reasoning with them, brought some of the Men to their Senses.

1781 W. Cowper Table Talk 53 Such reasoning falls like an inverted cone, Wanting its proper base to stand upon.

1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe III. ii. 76 Close reasoning, which..yields to no ambiguousness of language.

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. ii. 58 The Rector was helped to this chain of reasoning by Harold's remarks.

1914 Physical Rev. 2nd Ser. 4 369 The application of dimensional reasoning to mechanical problems is often useful in the interpretation of model experiments.

1954 G. Polya Induction & Analogy in Math. Pref. p. v We secure our mathematical knowledge by demonstrative reasoning, but we support our conjectures by plausible reasoning.

c2006 P. Annin Great Lakes Water Wars xii. 232 She listened to the reasoning behind the agreement and was open to hearing other people out.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 82 Þat forsoþ þat is of..plectory in þe propre resonyngz [?c1425 Paris resons; L. ratiocinijs] of hem is nowe said aboue in þe tretys of apostemez.

c1454 R. Pecock Folewer to Donet 17 (MED) Mannys soul wirchiþ summe werkis wherto he vsiþ not as instrumentis eny parti of his bodi, as ben vndirstondyngs, resonyngis, willyngis, and nyllyngis.

1552 King Edward VI Jrnl. (Roxb.) 457 The reasonings be in my deske.

1611 Bible (King James) Luke ix. 46 There arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. View more context for this quotation

1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. ix. §1. 135 Socrates is a man, and therefore a living creature, is a right reasoning, and that most evident.

a1720 W. Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. ii. 101 Several people accompanied him, and he had great reasonings with them.

1793 E. Darwin in T. Beddoes Let. to E. Darwin 61 Your..reasonings..indicate..hyperoxygenation to be the cause of this fatal disease [sc. consumption].

1812 L. Hunt in Examiner 14 Dec. 785/2 He would not enter into a reasoning on the subject.

1880 L. Stephen Alexander Pope vii. 163 The reasonings in the Essay are confused, contradictory, and often childish.

1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent xi. 326 Like a peripatetic philosopher, Mr Verloc, strolling along the streets of London, had modified Stevie's view of the police by conversations full of subtle reasonings.

1962 R. Wohlstetter Pearl Harbor ii. 156 Some rather closely considered and hardheaded reasonings about the Japanese political and economic situation.

2001 M. Palmer Question of God 84 All reasonings concerning matter of fact seem to be founded on the relation of cause and effect.

c1454 R. Pecock Folewer to Donet 196 (MED) Noon oþir þing saue god, we silf and oþir resonyng creature, may be it to whom we mowe wirche eny moral deede morali.

a1631 J. Donne To Mr. T.W. in Poems (1633) 95 I have given thee, and yet thou art too weake, Feete and a reasoning soule and tongue to speake.

1665 J. Glanvill Sciri Tuum: Authors Defense Let. Aristotle 80 in Scepsis Scientifica Thus was the reasoning World despoil'd of that freedom which is the priviledge of Humane Nature.

1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks II. iv. 118 Every reasoning or reflecting Creature.

1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. i. 185 That reas'ning, high, immortal Thing, Just less than Jove.

1782 W. Cowper Hope in Poems 148 Then praise is heard instead of reas'ning pride.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Charles I ii, in Wks. (1870) II. 382 All that makes the age of reasoning man More memorable than a beast's.

1870 J. H. Newman Ess. Gram. Assent i. iv. 91 After all, man is not a reasoning animal.

1935 E. Bowen House in Paris iii. i. 262 Leopold touched her belt and followed it round a little; for the first time his fingers had a reasoning touch.

1966 M. Pohlenz Freedom in Greek Life & Thought 137 His field of action could only be the community of reasoning beings into which his human nature had placed him.

2001 M. C. Nussbaum Upheavals of Thought (2003) 3 Emotions are not just the fuel that powers the psychological mechanism of a reasoning creature.

1761 J. Stonhouse Universal Restitution xii. 242 This doctrine may appear indeed very unreasonable to the reasoning soul, because the powers of our human understanding being conversant only with sensible objects, we cannot judge reasoningly but by reflections drawn from sensible nature.

1881 H. James Washington Square xxvi. 197 She had spoken up to this moment without vehemence or outward sign of emotion, gently, reasoningly, only trying to explain.

1886 H. James Bostonians III. iii. xxxvi. 111 ‘That's not the way,’ Verena went on, reasoningly.

1912 G. K. Chesterton Manalive i. i. 29 He was..talking to himself cheerfully, reasoningly, half apologetically.

1971 Stanford Law Rev. 24 111 How can the credits for licensee performance, determined and expressed in absolute terms, be reasoningly considered together in the decision process with the preferences, which must be adjudged and expressed in relative terms?

2005 J. Covino Berkeley Bashed iv. 93 To converse and discuss any topic of controversy logically, rationally, and reasoningly means only to argue and debate it relentlessly.