1672 J. V. Canes Τω Kαθολικω Stillingfleeton Pref. sig. A3^v Their own cause; which, after so oft plaistring over their breach from Us, with manifold Untruths at length needs buttressing up with so palpably incredible calumnies, therein inserted.

1828 York Herald 22 Nov. If we believe Protestant Christianity is true, can its fabric require all this undergirding and buttressing?

1865 G. MacDonald Alec Forbes I. iv. 20 He could not take much interest in the buttressing of a reputation which he knew to be already quite undermined by widely reported acts of petty meanness and selfishness.

1885 Agnostic Feb. 88 The President.., in return for numerous buttressings by the Church, might do something by way of State-ratification of his Episcopal claim.

1934 Internat. Affairs 13 614 Can you indeed permanently keep the peace by the rigid buttressing of an established order of things?

1963 Arizona & West 5 14 These reasons were, of course, highly debatable, although Barraclough offered ample buttressing for his contentions.

2014 T. J. Addington Deep Infl. vi. 116 His hunger for emotional buttressing is insatiable.

1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. xv. 168 The tiny buttressings look as if they carried the superstructure on the points of their pinnacles.

1865 G. E. Street Gothic Archit. Spain viii. 171 The northern transept is vigorously treated with a grand system of buttressing, used as mediæval artists alone apparently knew how!

1938 Geogr. Jrnl. 92 321 The heavy buttressing of the pier on the right bank shows the thrust it had to bear.

1979 R. G. Calkins Monuments Medieval Art vi. 155 The massive walls and buttressing for the towers at Chartres precluded this possibility.

2005 D. Cruickshank Around World in 80 Treasures 242 Usually the weight of a dome exerts a powerful lateral thrust and so demands complex buttressing.

1839 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 630/2 Having anticipated a propping and buttressing system, we are really disappointed at a mere change of chairs and masks.

1881 Fifeshire Jrnl. 13 Jan. 4/3 Mr. Gladstone and..his buttressing factions.

1936 Economist 3 Oct. 13/1 Another buttressing measure has been the purchase by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of preferred stock in a number of banks.

1954 P. Zagorin Hist. Polit. Thought in Eng. Revol. vi. 79 In England, Cook said, with a buttressing reference to Fortescue, the king has always been subject to law.

1982 K. Peoples Object Relations in Agoraphobia (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) v. 125 Their attention may be reserved for the other, and their effort, for securing a buttressing relationship.

2017 Irish Times (Nexis) 11 Mar. (Ireland section) 8 The peace process..was made possible by the buttressing effect of Irish and British membership of the European club.

1865 M. E. C. Walcott Memorials Carlisle 21 In the east wall are marks and remains of the buttressing arch of the Tower.

1906 J. Conrad Gaspar Ruiz in Pall Mall Mag. Oct. 498/1 A cornice road on a perpendicular wall of basalt wound itself around a buttressing rock.

1934 E. B. Van Deman Building of Rom. Aqueducts iv. 107 The north side of the structure was..encased in a solid buttressing wall of concrete faced with triangular bricks.

1960 F. O'Connor Violent bear it Away 26 A new grey hat, balanced perfectly straight on his buttressing ears.

2004 P. Hymers New Home Builder vii. 128 Buttressing elements need to be storey height.