?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 191 (MED) I graunte refoormynge of holy chirche by goode and holy curatis.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 594 (MED) To the which promyse, covenaunt, and reformyng of pease..william made an othe bodely vpon a boke.

c1525 J. Rastell Of Gentylnes & Nobylyte ii. sig. Cij^v Our gouernours..bring in theyr handis the rod of coreccyon And the reformyng of iniuryes them self see.

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. lxxxj^v For the debating of controuersies, and refourmyng of vices.

1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 134 He gaue towardes the reforming of that church fiue hundred markes.

1625 T. Godwin Romanae Historiae Anthologia (new ed.) iii. iii. i. 187 The corporall punishments are either..Capitall..or Castigatory, such corrections as serued for the humbling and reforming of the offender.

a1660 H. Hammond Serm. (1664) xiii. 216 A reforming of every thing which was either formally or virtually contain'd in their ignorance.

1744 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 283 I wish you had the reforming of the present family you are in.

1752 J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) p. iii I have been prevailed upon..to undertake the reforming of the former Edition.

1838 Times 20 Mar. 3/3 Mr. Litton presented a petition from the borough of Portarlington, praying the house not to pass any bill for the reforming of the Irish municipal corporations.

1860 Notes & Queries 2nd Ser. 10 253/2 Thomas Smith, Librarian of Cambridge, a Pauline,..in 1662 published an edition of the Dean's sermon on conforming and reforming.

1927 Amer. Econ. Rev. 17 4 One of the principal problems was the reforming of a gold standard which was so defective at the time that strictly speaking it was not entitled to the name ‘gold standard’.

1997 I. Bushnell Federal Court of Canada xi. 112 The standard rationale for the increased interest in reforming of the law of Crown liability..was, again, the growth of government activity.

?1591 H. Barrow Brief Discouerie False Church 191 From these ancient defections haue these learned reforming Priests drawen their platforme of reformation.

1622 P. Hannay Nightingale 248 And thou fraile flesh shame not now to begin, Thee to submit to the reforming spirit: Thinke of the by-waies thou hast wandred in, Which lead to hell and death, deserued merit.

1641 J. Milton Reason Church-govt. 22 The expected reforming grace that God hath bid us hope for.

1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion xvi 'Tis better he were hanged, than thou should'st share A moment's Grief by thy reforming Care.

1782 S. Neville Diary 5 Jan. (1950) xiii. 289 This palace of the favorite of our Reforming Harry, how noble, how magnificent, it is one of the finest remains..of the improved Gothic.

1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xv. 193 Thus, in offences originating from the motive of ill-will, that punishment has the strongest reforming tendency.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. i. 64 Elizabeth..put herself at the head of the reforming party.

1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein II. 166 We must retrace our steps, and examine his reforming legislation.

1940 M. McLuhan Let. 11 Jan. (1987) 124 A reforming super-school-marm who comes to a frightful Welsh mining village, converts the Squire and finds a genius in a coal-pit.

1991 N. Wyn Ellis John Major i. 16 An over-zealous reforming instinct and a bad economic strategy combined to weaken the Prime Minister's power base.

1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum (ed. 2) 346 It would better have become Iob to have submitted himselfe reformingly and humbly to his hand.

1850 Eliza Cook's Jrnl. 6 July 156/1 This is the work of the poets of the present..who touch mildly and sorrowfully, but reprovingly and reformingly, the vices of poverty.

1996 T. Reinhuber in O. Bayer & A. Suggate Worship & Ethics i. 102 At the other pole, they fought aggressively and reformingly against the world in their attempt actively to actualize the kingdom of God as its strict ethical ideal on earth.