a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Psalms xxxv. 3 Holsum sacrifise is..to sacrifien plesing of sacrifise vp-on vnriȝtwisnesses.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxiv. 50 Fro þe lord þe word is gon out; we mow not ouȝt out of þe plesyng [a1425 L.V. plesaunce; L. placitum] of hym.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) 1 Macc. i. 47 Sacrifices and plesyngis for to be don in the temple of God.

a1425 (?a1350) Gospel of Nicodemus (BL Add. 32578) (1907) 977 A lettre þai wrote all of plesynge.

c1390 G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale 711 Wyues..moste take in pacience at nyght Swich maner necessaryes as been plesynges To folk that han ywedded hem with rynges.

c1475 Antichrist & Disciples in J. H. Todd Three Treat. J. Wycklyffe (1851) p. cxxiii (MED) False apostlis..disceyuen þe hertis of innocentis be swet wordis & plesyngis & oþer feyned signes.

a1633 G. More Holy Practises of Devine Lover (1657) xxiii. 317 With false flatterie, & vayne pleasings for to make thee giue ouer thy good purposes.

c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. iii. 231 (MED) Prestis & personis þat plesing [v.rr. pleasyng, plesynges; presentz, penyes] desiriþ..take mede & money for massis þat þei synge.

?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 67 (MED) She hadde..plucked her browes..to make her selff the fayrer to the plesinge of the worlde [Fr. pour soy cuidier embellir et pour plaire au monde].

?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 48 (MED) Whi loue ye or haue more plesinge [Fr. plus grant plaisance] to ani man than to youre husbonde?

a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Cock & Fox l. 506 in Poems (1981) 23 In paramouris he wald do vs pleising, At his power.

1596 W. Raleigh in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1880) 36 Preferringe your plesinge before myne own desire.

1611 Bible (King James) Coloss. i. 10 That yee might walke worthy of the Lord vnto all pleasing, being fruitfull in euery good worke. View more context for this quotation

1644 in W. D. Macray Ruthven Corr. (1868) p. xxxix Maid of purpoiss for pleissing of the Englishmen.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccccxvi. 393 The Art of Pleasing is..the Skill of Cutting to a Third, betwixt Flattery and Ill Manners.

1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 206 'Tis a miserable way of Pleasing, to Scatter Smut in all your Stories.

1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman vi. 270 When a sense of duty..obliges them [sc. women] to restrain this pampered desire of pleasing..they obstinately determine to love.

a1825 A. L. Barbauld Legacy for Young Ladies (1826) 244 Love and Beauty seemed to have exhausted all their powers of pleasing for him in vain.

1895 ‘C. Holland’ My Japanese Wife (ed. 11) 78 She is a graduate in the art of pleasing.

1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song Prelude 29 So the body would think there was no pleasing of the creature, and she was right well laughed at in all Kinraddie.

1995 Independent 15 Nov. 12/4 When the man-gods and woman-goddesses of the Egyptian royalty took to their chambers they engaged in love-making to the lascivious pleasings of blind men playing the harp.

2004 Lisa Chapters 1 thru 6 (BDSM Subliminal) in alt.sex.stories.bondage (Usenet newsgroup) 26 May Caressing her head, I compliment on how much she has improved in her pleasing of me.

c1400 Prose Versions New Test.: Prol. (Selwyn) (1904) 5 Ȝef þei knewen how þei myȝten plesen hure God, þei ne wolde not spare..to don þing þat were to his plesynge.

c1450 in F. J. Furnivall Hymns to Virgin & Christ (1867) 2 (MED) Tota pulcra þou art to my plesynge, My moder, princes of paradijs.

a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 141 (MED) Yf in such maner thow wilte the sporte, Pley, and Solace, hit Suffysyth thre or foure dayes aftyr thy Plesynge.

a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 177 (MED) To hym came messangers..and hym Prait, yf hit were his Plesynge..to rescewe a grete Some of golde.

1527 Prose Life St. Brandan (1844) 40 Therfore our Lorde hath set us here..in full grete joye and myrth, after his pleasynge, here to serve hym.

1591 H. Savile tr. Tacitus Life Agricola in tr. Tacitus Ende of Nero: Fower Bks. Hist. 238 The sweetnesse and pleasing of idlenesse, and of doing nothing, creepeth into our senses.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Richard III (1623) i. i. 13 He capers nimbly in a Ladies Chamber, To the lasciuious pleasing of a Lute [1597 loue].

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 71 He..beholdiþ hire in þe face wiþ plesinge & glad [L. blando] chere.

a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 19 However þis ende comeþ beste, is moost plesing to God.

c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 191 (MED) A leche is plesyd wyth fayre woordys & plesyng speche.

a1500 Gesta Romanorum (Gloucester) (1971) 750 (MED) With fayr, plesyng wordes þou begylede hir.

1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Hastings lvi The pleasyngst meanes boade not the luckiest endes.

1592 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) viii. xli. 180 The tears did wash her pleasing face.

1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 327 What is pleasinger then varietie, or sweeter then flatterie?

1696 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: 3rd Pt. iv. ii. 38 Some sweet alluring Jen Scay Quoy, Some pleasing pretty tickling Toy.

1717 A. Pope Fable of Dryope in Wks. 276 Her smiling babe (a pleasing charge) she prest Within her arms.

1740 S. Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 9 He has reconciled the pleasing to the proper.

1787 E. Helme Louisa I. vi. 47 There is the most pleasing looking man with her I ever saw.

1814 Mann. & Cust. in Ann. Reg. 490/1 Most of the Greek women sing in a pleasing manner, accompanying themselves with a tetrachord, the tones of which are an excellent support to the voice.

1835 M. Shelley Lodore I. xvi. 252 He was not a pleasing-looking man.

1877 ‘Mrs. Forrester’ Mignon I. 15 No longer a young man, yet not too old to be pleasing to women.

1911 D. H. Lawrence White Peacock i. v. 68 His face was less pleasing than his person.

1985 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 10 Sept. 36 A ground cover..seemed to keep the weeds out and also provide a pleasing-looking green and white border.

1992 Observer 28 June 26/8 Another pleasing activity which can distress others is farting.

1652 J. Howell 2nd Pt. Massaniello (new ed.) 81 Whereunto Don John gave no pleasing ear.