1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xx. f. cxlii He sayeth..theyr pretendynge of theyr authoryte to be so great, that they people shold obay them without argument.

a1538 W. Holme Fall & Euill Successe Rebellion (1572) sig. I.iij^v Thus ending the pretending of their naughtie abusion.

1647 Earl of Clarendon Contempl. Psalms in Tracts (1727) 405 A pretending to do that which I do not do, or to be that I am not, being..a lie in action.

1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. ii. sig. Aa6 When the pretending of Religion grows to be a thing in request, many betake themselves to a form of Religion, who deny the Power of it.

1705 J. S. City & Country Recreation viii. 35 Her best Pretendings of Love are but Flatteries, and her Allurements only artificial Charms.

1822 J. Galt Provost xi. 85 Taking little heed as to how the loss had come, whether from an ill-judged pride and pretending in myself, or from the natural spirit of envy, [etc.]

1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 121 Then it was that I blessed my stars that our elder brother was with us that day; he might be little good at pretending, but in grappling with the stern facts of life he had no equal.

a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. xxii. 420 ‘Then you wouldn't have to do much pretending,’ urged Etta. ‘And what does a little pretending amount to?’

1979 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ont.) 1 Feb. 9/2 The expression was probably left out to help the child provide the doll's emotions himself—smiling, crying and so on. It takes more pretending, more imagination.

1987 Washington Post (Nexis) 11 Jan. x4 Success has depended on the willingness, eagerness, of Reagan's audience to be fooled, to believe his pretendings.

1434–6 in J. A. Kingdon Arch. Worshipful Company of Grocers (1886) II. 234 (MED) For the sauf kepyng of Caleys ayeinst the seege of the fals, pretendyng Duke of Burgoyne.

c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 20 [The curse] be wilke þe iust man be cursid as contrari to Godds lawe, þat is, but only in name or pretendand.

1593 G. Harvey New Let. Notable Contents sig. A3 Pollicy..will not easely be..betrayed with any coolerable countefesaunce, howsoeuer smoothly enticing, or gloriously pretending.

1657 J. Owen Of Commun. with God in Wks. (1851) II. 258 The pretending spirit of our day.

1681 W. Temple Mem. iii, in Wks. (1731) I. 334 The pretending Knowers among them,..pretended now to know nothing of it.

1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. iv. 107 Things, out of the reach of the most Pretending of the rest of his fellow Magicians.

1820 H. Fuseli Lect. Painting II. vi. 103 Correggio's numerous pretending imitators.

1838 Times 1 Oct. 5/5 The existing agitation would place Switzerland in this magnificent situation..having no longer a pretending Prince.

1842 J. Wilson Recreations Christopher North I. 377 Remembered when more pretending edifices are forgotten.

1960 Times 27 Apr. 1/3 Only a proper castle, not an 18th/19th-century Gothic pretending one.

1965 Vogue Aug. 64 Pretendin' racoon, pretty as a picture.

2005 Austral. Mag. (Nexis) 27 Aug. 46 I'm not tired, that was a pretending yawn.

1701 J. Collier tr. Marcus Aurelius Conversat. with Himself 10 No Man could charge him with Vanity, Flourish, and Pretendingness.