a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. xxxiii. 6 I shal opene to hem þe loweli preiyng [v.r. preȝyng; a1425 L.V. bisechyng; L. deprecationem] of pes & of trewþe.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 476 (MED) Þou mayst dreme of sum euyl þyng Þat may turne to better for þy preyyng.

1480 W. Caxton Descr. Brit. 22 The Saxons come atte praing of the britons ayenst the pictes.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 267 (MED) Leepe vpon the palfray of goode life, with iij sqwyers, scil., fastyng, prayng, and almysded.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. lix^v There be dyuers maner of prayenges..some openly and some priuatly.

1619 Two Wise Men & All Rest Fooles ii. i. 16 Mee thinkes this praying in a Church among those of high degree is nothing pleasantable.

1678 in M. Wood Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1950) X. 331 Ane hundered pound Scots gratuitie for his preaching and pryeing to the prisoners in the tolbuith.

1701 T. Bennet Confut. Popery ii. xii. 176 He shows this to be imposiible either in Preaching or Praying, unless those Offices be perform'd in a known Tongue.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 72 Here has been nothing but canting and praying since the fellow entered the place.

1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iv. vii. 391 Pause in thy mass-chantings, in thy litanyings, and Calmuck prayings by machinery.

1882 Cent. Mag. Nov. 77/1 It is a curious picture we get..of their life..exercising themselves in psalm-singing, praying, fighting, trading,..laying, or evangelizing, as occasion required.

1940 F. Sargeson Man & Wife (1944) 19 It sounded pretty awful to me, that sort of praying.

1995 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 22 June 16/4 The new evangelism meant cries and groans and fervent praying.

1842 J. W. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 173 I made myself..a sort of Persian couch out of the praying-cushions.

1929 M. H. I. Letts tr. O. Cartellieri Court of Burgundy iv. 64 Silver-embroidered lilies gleamed on the scaffold; the praying cushions..were of crimson velvet.

1701 T. Harrison Topica Sacra 107 When at any time thou art afraid to go away from..off praying Ground, and no notice taken off thee: Say secretly in thy Heart, Lord I am here.

1850 S. Judd Richard Edney & Governor's Family 375 Let us rejoice that we are not in hell, but still on praying ground!

1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. ii. 39 He went..to de place they call de prayin' ground, and got down on his knees.

1989 M. Hudson Our Grandmothers' Drums (1990) v. 92 We arrived to find the men of the village..already filling the praying ground. They sat calmly waiting, some murmuring prayers as they flicked slowly through their rosaries.

1531 W. Tyndale Expos. Fyrste Epist. St. Jhon sig. Cviii If there be no churche then..to help that one e were buylded to be a preachinge & a prayinge house.

1615 I. H. This Worlds Folly sig. B1^v More haue recourse to Playing houses, then to Praying houses.

1706 J. Owen Hist. Consecration Altars, Temples & Churches 39 These..Oratories, as the Historian calls 'em, were demolished... He calls 'em in another place Praying Houses.

a1843 in R. Southey Common-place Bk. (1849) 2nd Ser. 402/1 A praying-house, or chapel.

1928 Times 16 Apr. 15/1 These operations..are designed especially ‘to attract youth from the praying houses’.

1998 New Republic (Nexis) 17 Aug. 18 We then crossed three Hun Sen bridges, passing by a praying house inaugurated by Madame Hun Sen.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Exod. xxv. 18 Two golden cherubyn..þou schalt make on eyþer party of þe preying place [L.V. Goddis answeryng place; v.r. the oracle; L. oraculi].

a1425 Adam & Eve (Bodl.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1885) 74 350 Thei come to-gidre in thre parties byfore his prayenge-place, where Adam had prayed to oure lord god.

1575 W. Patten Cal. Script. f. 56 Oratorium..: A praying place.

a1638 J. Mede Diatribae (1642) 279 It was a Proseucha, or praying place, which the Israelites..had erected.

a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 127 There are in it a Christian Altar, and a Turkish praying place seated nearer to each other, than well agrees with the nature of such places.

1844 tr. M. T. Asmar Mem. Babylonian Princess II. 107 The splendid marble court, studded with Mussulman praying places.

1941 Times 13 Dec. 5/6 The Buddhist temple..provides a contrast to the simpler rural praying place of the Mohamedan Malays.

2001 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 21 Apr. a10/4 (caption) Praying place.

1669 J. Flavell Husbandry Spiritualized i. i. 19 You find in the Word, a world of work cut out for Christians; there's hearing work, praying work, reading, meditating, and self-examining work.

1747 S. Hebden Treat. Forms of Prayer 4 None can thoroughly perform praying Work, or embrace the Liberty indulged to them, while they confine themselves to precomposed Forms of any Kind.

1883 Amer. Missionary (N.Y.) Feb. 56/2 There is praying work and paying work for every heart and hand.

1844 tr. M. T. Asmar Mem. Babylonian Princess II. 201 The old Emir..throwing his praying carpet on the ground.

1930 Times 18 Feb. 49/6 In the palace there is..a praying-carpet of pearls made by a Hindu prince for the Moslem shrine in Mecca.

2002 Prospect (Nexis) 29 Aug. It also gave Atta and his fellow Muslim students a room to pray in... Aside from a praying carpet, it was equipped with a computer.

1834 A. C. de Koros Dict. Tibetan & Eng. 129/1 The praying cylinder.

1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xii. 135 These praying-cylinders seem to be seldom left long at rest.

1948 E. Radford & M. A. Radford Encycl. Superstitions 232 Far away to the east, the Llama monk whirls his praying cylinder in the way of the sun.

1666 E. Wettenhall Enter into thy Closet ii. 8 One side I would have free.., against which should either stand a table, or a Praying desk (that when occasion should be I might lay a book or paper before me).

1705 W. Bromley Remarks Grand Tour France & Italy (ed. 2) 139 In the Piazza of Navona is an Altar dedicated to S. Anne and the Blessed Virgin; on a Praying-desk is a Prayer to be said to them.

1857 Tales & Sketches for Fireside Sept. 314/2 One queer youth was caught by the minister as he entered the refectory, and ordered to accuse himself of breaking his Prie-Dieu or praying-desk.

1906 Westm. Gaz. 14 May 2/1 A praying-desk..and a table for an altar were placed in the middle of the room, and priests carried in the sacred icon.

1998 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 7 July A praying desk for one individual, the prie-dieu was first used by the higher clergy during religious services in the early Middle Ages.

1886 All Year Round 14 Aug. 34 Like a Buddhist priest's rotatory praying-drum.

1877 T. W. R. Davids Buddhism 211 Everywhere in Tibet these praying flag-staffs meet the eye.

1817 Edinb. Rev. 28 313 The followers of the grand Lama..have invented praying-jennies.

a1807 Britannic Mag. 9 155/1 He observed several small windmill-wings: he was informed they were praying machines, on which the owner of the hut causes certain prayers to be written by the priests, that they may be turned round by the wind, and he thereby freed from the trouble of repeating them himself.

1826 S. Stallybrass Jrnl. 16 July in E. Stallybrass Mem. Mrs. Stallybrass (1836) iv. 203 An old man..was travelling sixty versts on foot,..for the purpose of turning the praying machine for a week,..in order to atone for past misconduct and drunkenness.

1892 W. Besant London iii. 127 It is not every man who can be thus changed into a slave and a praying-machine.

1953 Chillicothe (Missouri) Constit. Tribune 17 Oct. 2/5 The heathens have praying machines and prayer-wheels.

1972 C. Stephenson Merrily on High xii. 185 Eastern [Orthodox] spirituality has tended to regard monks as primarily ‘praying machines’. There has never been the tradition of ‘scholar monks’ which we have had in the west.

2000 Virginian Pilot (Nexis) 7 Apr. e3 I say at least 100 prayers each day. I am a praying machine!

1860 R. F. Burton in Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 1859 29 353 They will carry nothing but the lightest gear, the master's writing-case, bed, or praying mat.

1947 Times 11 Nov. 1/4 (advt.) Persian praying mat, new; offers.

1998 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 61 304 If you would have known about such a reckoning, you could hardly have been dragged away from the praying-mat.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Cane-bottom'd Chair vi That praying-rug came from a Turcoman's camp.

1926 Times 11 Nov. 5/1 I was meditating writing a novel as beautiful and as intimate as a Persian praying rug.

2001 St. Paul (Minnesota) Press 28 Oct. b1 Saidi..covered a table with a praying rug, Islamic art, overhead projector and a copy of the Quran.

1881 Littell's Living Age 14 May 424/2 We grow familiar with taliths or praying-scarves, with hand and head phylacteries.

1891 M. Goldsmith Rabbi & Priest 29 Shall he earn a few paltry kopecks in making tzitzith (fringes for the praying scarfs)?

2000 B. Shoshan Disc. Gender 33 One young preacher—educated, single, simply dressed, and completely veiled with a praying scarf.

1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. 3 Their phylacteries and praying shawls.

1907 I. Zangwill Anglicization in Ghetto Comedies 55 As he sat..in the synagogue..this young Englishman lurked beneath his praying shawl.

2001 Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader (Nexis) 8 Dec. 10 b Rabbi Rita Sherwin tells Catholic fourth-graders about a praying shawl.

1846 Littell's Living Age 17 Jan. 136/2 How comes that young lady in the flowing bed-gown to be lying on the floor, her head upon the cushion of her praying stool?

1911 Times 30 June 9/7 Behind the dais were the seats and praying-stools.

1969 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 15 Apr. 11/1 Royalties kneeling at praying stools of crimson and gold.

2000 Newsday (Nexis) 31 Aug. b2 We had a little praying stool in the pulpit and I thought that was my seat.

1854 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. I. vi. 147 Every book of travels..[mentions] praying-wheels.

1889 Cent. Mag. Jan. 371/1 The praying-wheel exists in old chapels in Brittany as a religious toy, formerly used with rites half magical under the sanction of the local clergy.

1912 Times 8 Aug. 5/6 Passers-by enter and spend a spare minute or so walking round the shed, revolving the drum-like praying wheels, like a horse working a threshing machine.

1997 Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (Nexis) 23 Aug. a41 ‘Painting is like this Buddhist praying wheel,’ claims the poetry-lover.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Macc. x. 24 Y shal wryte to hym preying wordis [L. verba deprecatoria]..that he be with me in help.

?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 98 ^v Prayng, precarius, precabundus.

c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxi. 3 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 67 To thee my praying voice doth fly.

1697 W. Bates Acct. Life P. Henry in Wks. (1853) II. 729/2 Christ's last breath was praying breath.

1744 A. Pope Epist. to Several Persons i. 22 The frugal Crone, whom praying priests attend.

1781 W. Cowper Truth 57 A praying, synagogue-frequenting, beau.

1823 H. Bourne Hist. Primitive Methodists 49 The praying people, in returning home, were accustomed to sing through the streets.

1892 H. R. Haggard Nada the Lily 226 The white praying man, who had come..to teach us people of the Zulu.

1931 F. L. Allen Only Yesterday iv. 80 The ‘praying Colonels’ of Centre College.

1994 J. Barth Once upon Time 134 I rocked, I davened like a praying Hasid in my crisis of concern.

1852 E. F. Hatfield St. Helena & Cape of Good Hope 133 The large dining-room, where the praying band had been wont to meet, was seated so as to hold about sixty persons.

1937 Sun (Baltimore) 25 May (D ed.) 4/5 On the left sits a row of younger women—the ‘praying band’ or ‘shout band’.

2003 This Day (Nigeria) (Nexis) 9 Jan. The spiritual father of the praying band of the Sacred Cherubim and Seraphim Church Worldwide, His Grace, Spiritual Father Abel Olujimi Akinsanya, recently paid a working visit to Ekiti State.

1652 T. Mayhew Let. 22 Oct. in J. Eliot Tears of Repentance (1653) sig. B4 There was a storm..but when I came to this end I found a calm, the Praying Indians were all well, they arose in the morning, Prayed to God, and went about their business.

1745 Acct. Treaty held at City of Albany 18 Afterwards divers of the Indians present, chiefly of the Praying Indians, went with the French Governor to Quebec.

1877 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 7 June In 1674 he [sc. John Eliot] had 1,100 praying Indians and twenty-five native preachers.

2004 L. M. Stevens Poor Indians i. 52 By the end of the seventeenth century, especially after King Philip's War had destroyed most of New England's praying Indians, missionaries began to acquire a tone of pessimism and urgency.

1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. II. xxi. 221 The genera Mantis and Phasma—named praying-insects and spectres.

1893 T. R. R. Stebbing Hist. Crustacea xix. 282 The Mantis or ‘soothsayer’, also known in the south of France as the Preguediou or praying insect, derived the latter name from the childish superstition that if asked the road to Rome or to James of Compostella, it would indicate it by holding out one or other of its arms.

1935 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 10 July 19/7 The insect Mantis is called the praying insect, because of the position of the forelegs, which resembles the attitude of prayer.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. i. 180 By Zoographers called mantis, and by the Common people of Province, Prega Dio, that is, the Prophet and praying Locust, as being generally found in the posture of supplication. View more context for this quotation

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Mantis,..an Insect call'd The praying Locust.

1901 H. A. Nesbitt tr. C. Keller Madagascar, Mauritius & other East-African Islands xix. 213 Among the praying locusts, there are found Mantis prasina and Hierodula Völzkowiana.

1993 R. Hendrickson Ladybugs, Tiger Lilies, & Wallflowers 156 It is also called the ‘praying locust’ because of the position in which it holds its forelegs, as if in prayer.

1912 W. C. O'Kane Injurious Insects 23 We have the jumping Orthoptera..; the running Orthoptera..; the grasping Orthoptera, including the Mantidæ or praying mantids; and the walking Orthoptera.

1969 D. F. Costello Prairie World ii. 32 Praying mantids, walking sticks, grasshoppers, spittle bugs, and innumerable other insects are found on the leaves of grasses and forbs.

2003 Birder's World Apr. 73 Two imported species, the European mantid in the eastern United States (commonly known as the praying mantid) and the widely distributed Chinese mantid, are most familiar to gardeners.