1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xix. 22 This..put the Ambassador in..perplexity..because of the retarding of his voiage.

a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1954) VII. 335 It is not a cropping, a pilling, a retarding of the growth of the Vine that is threatned.

1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. viii. 359 The Retarding of the Work under..the Kings of Persia.

1742 J. Martyn & E. Chambers tr. Philos. Hist. & Mem. Royal Acad. Sci. Paris II. 106 The retarding caused by the water in the vibrations of the pendulum, is 3″ in a minute.

1784 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 75 140 I fixed therefore the retarding of the clock 1′ 35″.

1847 S. B. Parsons Rose xi. 154 The retarding of roses by means of a regular process of pruning, owes its origin to a comparatively modern date.

1859 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 18 176 Through these regularly alternating accelerations and retardings the alternating contractions and expansions are produced.

1946 Bot. Rev. 12 396 The object of storing fresh fruits and vegetables at relatively low temperatures is quite obviously the retarding of the processes which cause these foods..to decay.

1995 R. E. Ballmann How & Why Home Schooling (rev. ed.) 74 Are you tired of the assault on educational excellence? Are you sick of the retarding of America and the imprisoning of potential?

1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana iii. xi. 266 Salt Nitre, and Sulphur, when being added to Sand, Flints, and many Metals,..have yet no accelerating, but a retarding energy upon Turpentine, Balsome, Myrrh, &c. in the extraction of their Oyls.

1761 J. Armstrong Day 14 'Twill cost a Sea of Claret and Champain, Of this retarding Glue to rinse the Nation's Brain.

1798 C. Hutton Course Math. II. 247 The resisting force R..and..the retarding force f.

1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xxxi. 273 The host of retarding influences that belong to a Polar night.

1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. 21 A self-satisfaction which is retarding and vulgarising.

1873 Eclectic Med. Jrnl. 33 302 If it is an anticipating quotidian, the paroxysm will precede its antecedent about two hours... If it is a retarding quotidian, it will ensue the time of its antecedent about two hours.

1898 T. O'C. Sloane Standard Electr. Dict. 618 Retarding Disc, a disc used in Thomson's electric meter for retarding the revolutions of the motor shaft.

1947 F. G. Spreadbury Electronics xviii. 591 In order that no current shall flow it is..necessary to apply a retarding potential, i.e. the anode must be negative with respect to the cathode.

1998 Independent on Sunday 1 Feb. i. 17/2 A growing band of Americans..believe Microsoft is a retarding force in the PC software market, crushing competition and hampering technological advance.

1912 H. A. Bumstead & A. G. McGougan in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 33 323 The direct radiation contains a component which is much less affected by the retarding field than the secondary radiation alone.

1950 Jrnl. Physical Soc. Japan 5 339/1 Electrons could enter the retarding field..only a single time.

2005 R. E. March & J. F. Todd Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry (ed. 2) v. 163 The retarding field was induced by the application of a variable DC voltage to a hemispherical mesh electrode.

1847 J. H. J. Müller Princ. Physics & Meteorol. viii. ii. 528 If an east wind thus arise, it will, if the same causes continue in operation which have driven the air towards the equator, act retardingly upon the polar current.

1881 Academy 3 Sept. 174/1 M. Stapfer, at times diffuse, is nowhere retardingly dense.

2000 B. N. Hardy Thomas Hardy iv. 104 The long lines with polysyllabic diction..perambulate retardingly and portentously through the panorama, giving a sense of resistance and slow process.