1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 41^v A long small pediculo, that is a footlyng or footstalcke.

1855 Bell's Life in London 6 May 6/6 Varnished inside and out, with black sax-boards, a red streak outside, and a green streak inside, with open footlings, which have a very light appearance.

1857 P. M. Colquhoun Compan. Oarsman's Guide 7 Footlings, or shifting battens..consist of long strips of board 2½ inches broad and an inch apart, secured by cross pieces underneath them.

1914 Atlantic Monthly June 55/1 The boy began scrubbing the footlings and sopping the muddy bilge.

1942 Motor Boating Aug. 43/1 The command toss oars is given to order the oarsmen to place their oars in a perpendicular position, blades fore and aft, handles resting on the footlings.

1989 Naut. Q. Summer 47/1 The keels, stem, stem posts, keelsons, frames, risings, footlings and wash strakes are built of white oak.

1888 Punch 4 Feb. 57/1 I had to stay in..and swot at those footling questions of yours!

1905 G. B. Shaw in Daily Chron. 15 Mar. 6/3 They are paraphrases of great works, made by footling people.

1930 W. S. Maugham Breadwinner i. 46 You do talk the most footling rot.

1960 Guardian 14 Dec. 8/7 Wondering why he should do ‘footling’ experiments with ball bearings.

2014 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 26 July (Your Money section) 4 Three times they have come back to me with footling questions, the answers to which were either obvious or irrelevant.

1605 A. Willet Hexapla in Genesin 277 To come out footling, that is, with the feete first, is against nature, as Nero was borne.

1734 E. Hody Giffard's Cases Midwifry lxxxix. 215 A delivery where the child came footling.

1851 J. Roberton Ess. & Notes Physiol. & Dis. Women 248 The pup was born footling.

1911 Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynæcol. Brit. Empire 20 84 The child, the second of twins came footling.

1699 R. Barret Compan. for Midwives vii. 26 I gently introduce my Hand into the Entry of the Womb, then I turn the Child, and bring it out by the Feet, or as they say, Footling way, pulling it gently till the Hips are come forth.

1784 J. Aitken Princ. Midwifery 48 The footling birth, or delivering when a foot or feet have spontaneously presented, or been made to do so by turning, is always a critical event to the child.

1842 London Med. Gaz. 2 614/2 This was a footling presentation.

1887 Amer. Lancet 11 122/2 In some of the doctor's case the presentation was not actually found to be footling.

1910 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 11 June 1452/1 To my surprise, on making another examination, I found a ‘footling’ presentation.

1991 J. Phillips You'll never eat Lunch in this Town Again 136 The X ray showed that she was a footling breach [sic].

2006 New Yorker 9 Oct. 61/1 It could be a footling breech, coming feet first, but then getting wedged at the chest with the arms above the head.

1829 Lancet 29 Aug. 677/1 The presentations were natural, with the exception of four; and of these, two were footlings.

1871 Med. & Surg. Reporter 7 Jan. 12/1 The third was a footling.

1905 Amer. Year-bk. Med. & Surg.: Surg. 432 The first and third were head-presentations, the others footlings.

1934 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 34 26/1 In the case of footlings or breeches the damage to the perineum may be considerable.

2012 S. Donna Birth: Countdown to Optimal (ed. 2) ix. 73 She was a footling, but I'm not sure we knew that part before the birth.