abuildingadj.
/əˈbɪldɪŋ/, U.S. /əˈbɪldɪŋ/ Now chiefly North American.
In the process of being built or building. Also figurative in later use. Only in predicative use.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > [adjective] > being built
abuilding1534
rising1876
1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) John ii. 20 Then sayde the Iewes: xlvi. yeares was this temple abuyldinge: and wylt thou reare it vp in thre dayes?
1573 tr. H. S. Du Rosier Lamentable Disc. Fall H. Sureau sig. C.ij. I was not without remorse and trouble in my conscience, seeinge the pytteous woorke that was a building.
1619 T. Gainsford True Exemplary, & Remarkable Hist. Earle of Tirone 45 At Corcke they began more roughly, demolishing the new Fort which was a building.
a1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) xv. 436 When a house is part built, and part unbuilt..to throw down an heap of new brick..by the sides of the Wall that is a building, is not to..carry on the building of the house.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. at Stocks Hence we say, a Ship is on the Stocks, when she is a Building.
1755 J. Mair Introd. Lat. Syntax (ed. 2) 125 When Babel was a building, they made use of burnt Bricks instead of Stone.
1855 A. B. Warner My Brother's Keeper xxvi. 271 No such morning songster would ever build his nest ill, or talk while it was a building.
1891 W. Morris News from Nowhere xxvi. 194 This talk brought us up to the house that was a-building.
1939 V. Woolf Diary 15 Apr. (1984) V. 215 Noises & houses abuilding oppress.
1981 Sci. Amer. Dec. 61/1 A comprehensive theory of cancer causation was abuilding last spring.
2010 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 25 Feb. d 6 Anyway, we had other pensions abuilding elsewhere and other savings, too.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1534