1538 T. Elyot Dict. Remissio, remyssion, forgyuenesse, a recreatyng of mynde after study or labour.

1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 41 After long recreating of hir selfe in the Countrie.

1647 R. Baron Εροτοπαιγνιον ii. 26 Silvanus, who had there planted many fragrant arbours for the recreating of his beauteous Clorinda.

1699 tr. J. B. Bossuet Maxims & Refl. upon Plays xxix. 97 He inquires, Whether there can be any Sin in the Defect, or too rigid Forbearance of Diversion. That is, In refusing and denying a mans self every thing, that may contribute to the recreating his Mind.

1855 F. W. Faber Growth in Holiness (ed. 2) xiv. 233 Recreating and idling are very different things.

1874 C. Kingsley in Overland Monthly May 479/2 In painting, poetry, music, horticulture, physical science—in all this lies recreation, in the true and literal sense of that word, namely, the recreating and mending of the exhausted mind and feelings, such as no rational man will now neglect.

1921 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 27 114 Surveys became popular. It was a new form of recreating.

1977 Land Economics 53 50/2 Who does all the hunting, fishing and general rural outdoor recreating.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xxviii. 524 What counsell wouldest thou giue him for the recreating of thee.

1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 207 Our re-creating or Redemption.

1707 E. Lloyd Muzzle for Mad Dog 14 Hold a little, let's return to the Blunder as you call it—Of God's Re-creating a thing out of nothing.

1749 W. Jameson Ess. Virtue & Harmony iv. 310 Such a Power in the human Mind, of new-moulding or as it were re-creating itself.

1794 Europe in Danger 12 Under the vain but plausible pretext of re-creating.

1871 C. Hodge Systematic Theol. III. iv. ii. 787 This view they connected with astronomical calculations making the burning and recreating of the world coincide with the same position of the stars as that at which it previously occurred.

1925 Jrnl. Philos. 22 348 Instead of speaking of a rediscovery of knowledge, perhaps we should rather speak of a recreating of knowledge.

1954 in E. L. King tr. A. Castro Struct. Spanish Hist. ii. 59 It can be nothing other than a recreating of itself as if the world were beginning anew in every instant.

2002 A. S. Ahmed Postmodernism & Islam i. 4 The sense of déjà-vu which permeates Muslim society is not so much a reliving as the recreating of the past.

1600 R. Kittowe Loues Load-starre sig. G4^v When time gaue Morpheus libertie, with his inchaunting noates, to bedull mens vigilant sences, summoning all humane bodies to recreating rest.

1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 40 Some recreating intermission of labour, and serious things.

1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. iv. 223 Other Recreating and Pleasurable Entertainments.

1747 W. Wetenhall Hounslow-Heath 8 In higher Life the Evenings often pass, With a gay Pipe, and recreating Glass.

1772 R. Cumberland Fashionable Lover i. i. 7 Tis a recreating contemplation, to a philosophic mind!

1783 E. Burke Speech Fox's E. India Bill in Wks. (1842) I. 282 Poverty, sterility, and desolation, are not a recreating prospect.

1849 C. Brontë Shirley II. ix. 207 Every night yielded her recreating rest.

1876 Times 14 Dec. 5/6 Doubtless, the actors in this cresis [sic], worn out by the fatigues of these 11 days, had hastened in a recreating sleep to forget the exciting incidents which had agitated them.

1907 Science 20 Sept. 363 The hysterical excitement which so often turns the recreating pleasure of sport into a ruinous passion.

1974 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Direadh iii. 50 How fragrant, how infinitely refreshing and recreating Is the mere thought of Deirdre!

1993 D. S. Carr & D. J. Chavez in A. W. Ewert et al. Culture, Confl. & Communication iv. xiii. 191 A relaxed afternoon is spent with good food, shared enjoyment and laughter, leaving the city and its concerns far away—truly a ‘recreating’ experience.

1810 R. Southey Curse of Kehama xi. 117 For Lorrinite Had, from their sockets, drawn the liquid sight, And kneaded it, with re-creating skill, Into this organ of her mighty will.

1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab vi. 75 The blood-stained charter.., Which nature soon, with recreating hand, Will blot in mercy from the book of earth.

1863 E. Bulwer-Lytton Caxtoniana I. 145 And what he might know of such popular common-sense matters..he would so transform in the re-creating process of his glowing intellect.

1894 F. W. O. Ward Confessions of Poet iv. 151 Unutterable Life, Begot by strife, Rushed through my veins in re-creating love.

1930 Times 8 Mar. 15/5 There must always be renewal. This is the work of the re-creating Spirit of God by whom men are born again, and live in newness of life.