c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness l. 1123 For ho schynes so schyr þat is of schap rounde,..& wax euer in þe worlde in weryng so olde, Ȝet þe perle payres not whyle ho in pyese lasttes.

1426 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 71 I woll þat..my preest haue..a gowne of my weryng.

a1450 Knt. de la Tour xxvii. 39 Seint Bernarde,..for his holy lyuing, and of weringe of the heyre,..was chose to be abbot of that place.

1482 in H. E. Malden Cely Papers (1900) 103 My mother has gewyn to Myhellz wyfe a cremsyn goune of hyr wheryng.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. A 3 b Such rare iewels are well worth the wearing.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) v. ii. 28 Speciall Dignities, which vacant lye For thy best vse and wearing . View more context for this quotation

1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub ii. 54 With good wearing, they will last you fresh and sound as long as you live.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 43. ⁋10 But a Fool of a colder Constitution would have..made Buff of his Skin, for the Wearing of the Conqueror.

1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 135 I..desir'd that they might all take an equal Quantity of the Goods that were for wearing.

1819 W. Scott Bride of Lammermoor iii, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 38 He rushed into the room with a willow branch in his hand, which he told her had arrived that instant from Germany for her special wearing.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vii. 182 The opposition, it seemed, wished..to make the crown of England not worth the wearing.

1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. i. sig. Fiii^v Al thyng is the wors for the wearyng.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) i. 11 That the..Boote was made of such leather as would shrinke in the wearing.

1613 J. May Declar. Estate of Clothing 38 After a moneths wearing, it will looke like a souldiers coat which hath line sixe moneths out of garrison.

1695 J. Collier Misc. upon Moral Subj. 64 Friendship is one of those few Things which are the better for the Wearing.

1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 74 His hardest Tools are the worse for Wearing.

1711 Dissenting Teachers Addr. 18 A Pulpit little worse for wearing to dispose off.

1724 A. Ramsay Widow 10 The Widow she's youthfu', and never ae Hair The war of the wearing.

1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie sig. Bvii Salomon sayed to hym [sc. Adonias]: Gette the into thy house, bilyke he meante to warde, and ther to se hys wearynge, as if he shoulde saye, shewe thyselfe wythoute gall of ambition, to be a quiet subiecte, and I wyll pardon the for thys tyme. But I wyll se the wearynge of the.

1566 A. Edwards Let. 8 Aug. in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) ii. 380 They talke much of London clothes: and they that knowe the wearing are desirous of them before the cloth of the womens making: for they finde it nothing durable.

1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber ix. 177 In the Wearing of her Person, she was particularly fortunate; her Figure was always improving, to her Thirty-sixth Year.

1876 W. Morris Story of Sigurd i. 30 Now again in a half month's wearing goes Signy into the wild.

1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Wearing..3. Diminution or passing away; as, the wearing of the season.

1905 A. T. Sheppard Red Cravat iii. ii. 238 Before the wearing of a moon, [he] was back again.

1418 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 32 Myne owne werynge clothes.

1498 in F. W. Weaver Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 365 All my weryng kercheff evenly to be departed betwene her and..Agnes Huyssh.

1576 A. Fleming tr. Erasmus in Panoplie Epist. 354 The sheepe..yeeldeth her woll, which is wouen and wrought to make vs wearing garmentes.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) i. iii. 88 The very trayne of her worst wearing Gowne, Was better worth then all my Fathers Lands. View more context for this quotation

1616 Liber Deposit. infra Archidiacon. Colcestrensem (MS) 94 His wife's wearing lynnen.

1661 in W. M. Sargent Maine Wills (1887) 3 I giue vnto Anthony Littlefejld all my weareing Cloaths.

1685 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) II. 421 Bring along with you..yr Best Waring Things.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory (1905) iv. xii. 487/1 His owne weareing rapier carried by his servant.

1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 76 Some wearing Linen.

1740 Countess of Pomfret in Countess of Hartford & Countess of Pomfret Corr. (1805) II. 29 Her wearing jewels are the finest and most various of any sovereign's now living.

1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Wearing. See the article Veering.

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxiii. 230 A regular tacking and wearing bill was made out.

1811 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 20 I have been prevented writing by most wearing nervous headaches.

1815 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1850) II. 18 A heartless, hard driving, distracting, and wearing out life among the bustle of unministerial work.

1824 S. Ferrier Inheritance II. viii. 86 She..remarked, what a wearing-out thing it [sc. reading aloud] was for the reader.

1837 T. Carlyle New Lett. (1904) I. 55 My toil is great; but it is not a wearing toil, as that of writing is.

1859 Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 155 809 This wearing, exasperating question of how money is to be got.

1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iii. xvi. 142 You see the occupations of the day are sometimes a little wearing.

1876 T. Hardy Hand of Ethelberta I. xx. 205 She began to know how wearing were miserable days, and how much more wearing were miserable nights.

1887 Murray's Mag. Aug. 267 It was in many respects a wearing life.

1859 R. Hunt Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2) 292 The specimens exhibited show the wearing and grinding force of the modern glaciers.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda III. v. xxxv. 39 This cloister was built of harder stone than the church, and had been in greater safety from the wearing weather.

1903 W. Chrystal Kingdom of Kippen 146 All the lower ground is covered with sheets of boulder clay, the material resulting from the wearing action of the ice.

1908 Animal Managem. (War Office) 36 The surface [of the tooth] which bites on the food or its fellow in the opposite jaw is the table, or wearing surface.

1940 Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 28 Wearing course, the layer of material applied to form the carriage~way.

1977 Bitumen (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 2/4 The traffic load is carried mainly by the base layer, while the wearing course provides a waterproof non-skid cover which resists traffic wear.

1870 Public Opinion 6 Aug. 170 It is the trivial, every-day suffering..that is most wearingly, if not most keenly, felt.