seeingn.1
/ˈsiːɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsiɪŋ/ 1.
a. The action or fact of seeing something (in various senses of see v.). Cf. sight n.1 4.In early use also as complement of worth (worth adj. 9c) or worthy (worthy adj. 5a(a)), as worth (the) seeing, worthy seeing, etc. Uses of worth seeing are now usually regarded as showing see v.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > [noun]
eyesenea1225
lookinga1225
sight1297
eyesight?c1335
seeing1372
view?c1475
vision1493
speculation1509
discernment1614
ken1667
outsight1681
1372 in E. Wilson Descriptive Index Lyrics John of Grimestone's Preaching Bk. (1973) 29 (MED) Eyne to seing; Eres to hering; Tunge to speking.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iii. xvii. 110 Aristotil seiþ þat seynge [L. visum videre] is nouȝt elles but þat þe siȝt passe out to þe þing þat is isene.
c1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert (1910) 67 (MED) Gilberd..mad hem [sc. seuene maydenes] celles wher þei myte prey and haue parte eke of all dyuyne seruyse, both in seying and in eryng.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xvii. 88 Swa thai vroucht than That, but seying of ony man, Outane sym of spaldyne allane.
a1500 (?a1390) J. Mirk Festial (Gough) (1905) 171 (MED) The secund cause þat þe sacrament is vset in þe auter is forto make man by ofte seynge to haue þe sadur mynde of Cristis passion in his hert.
1539 in King Edward VI Lit. Remains (1857) I. App. p. cclxiv A cuppe gevon by my Lorde of Wynchester at his first seeyng of the Prince grace.
1629 L. Carlell Deserving Favourite i. sig. C4v Madame, will it please you walke into the gallery, There are some pictures will be worth your seeing.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1654 (1955) III. 128 But most remarkeable & worthy seeing, is St. Peters Cathedrall.
1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 127 The very seeing of her disgusted me from Matrimony.
1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 384 There is another church of the same name..which is also very well worth seeing.
1807 W. Wordsworth Ode in Poems II. 155 Those shadowy recollections, Which, be they what they may,..Are yet a master light of all our seeing . View more context for this quotation
1859 J. Ruskin Two Paths iv. §108 But your architectural designing leads you into no pleasant journeys,—into no seeing of lovely things.
1934 Jrnl. Philos. 31 70 This distinction..permits us to speak..of the smelling of a smell, the seeing of a color.
1973 J. Lancaster Introd. Op Art ii. 28 Optical art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing.
2015 N.Y. Amsterdam News 5 Mar. 12/1 There were hugs and handshakes..and the seeing of old friends.
b. An act or instance of seeing something (in various senses of see v.). Cf. sight n.1 5.
ΚΠ
a1450 York Plays (1885) 109 (MED) Als he is kyng of blysse, Sende yhou som seand of þis, In truth þat ye might bide.
c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 10 (MED) Whiche eyen brynge of þat þei haue seyng A report so gracious and goodly Vnto the hert which gyvith his heryng Therto.
1555 tr. P. M. Vermigli Treat. Cohabitacyon Faithfull f. 33 These seyngs and suddayn meetings.., could not be auoyded.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney in Sir P. Sidney & Countess of Pembroke tr. Psalms (1963) xlii. i. 96 Ah, when comes my blessed beeing, Of thy face to have a seeing?
1601 J. Deacon & J. Walker Summarie Answere to Darel 84 Sensible seeings, and feelings of some thing going out of their bodies.
1681 W. Penn Brief Exam. & State Liberty Spiritual 4 Is there Contrariety of..Seeings, Hearings, Tastings, Smellings in one and the same Body?
1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn (1860) Introd. Ep. 13 A particular account of all my doings, or rather my seeings and thinkings.
1870 Athenæum 2 July 8 Enough would have remained, despite many errors, many seeings of things which cannot be seen, to leave the book..interesting.
1902 Bookman Mar. 91/2 In three seeings I enjoyed it more each time.
1977 R. H. Brown Poetic for Sociol. (1978) v. 172 Irony is a metaphor of opposites, a seeing of something from the viewpoint of its antithesis.
2009 J. Russon Bearing Witness to Epiphany i. 12 Our perception of the image is not atomized, is not a composite of multiple, unrelated seeings.
2. The power or faculty of sight, the ability to see; sight, vision. Formerly also: †a person's field of vision (obsolete). Cf. sight n.1 III.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > [noun]
i-sightc888
seneOE
lightOE
eyesightc1175
sightc1200
rewarda1382
seeingc1390
viewc1390
outwitc1400
starec1400
speculation1471
eyec1475
vision1493
ray1531
visive power1543
sightfulnessa1586
outsight1605
conspectuitya1616
visibility1616
optics1643
rock of eye1890
visuality1923
c1390 Form of Confession (Vernon) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 344 (MED) Whuche are a Monnes fyue wittes? Heering, Seoing, Smellyng, Tastyng, and Touching.
a1400 (?a1325) Medit. on Supper of our Lord (Harl.) (1875) l. 543 (MED) Þey..krounde hym with a croune of þorne..Þey sette hym opunly yn here seyng And knelyd and seyd, ‘heyl, syre kyng!’
c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 7 Þi V wyttis þou most know;..Þi heryng, þi seyng, as I þe schewe.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 8235 (MED) Myn helm hath rafft me my syyng And take a-way ek myn heryng.
c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew 82 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 192 As to defe men þe herynge, & to blynd men þe seynge.
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme cxxiii. 4 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 215 Vnto thee..lift I my earthy seeing.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. i. ii. vi. 33 Touching, Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, Tasting: to which you may adde Scaligers sixt sense.
1695 T. W. tr. J. Abbadie Art of knowing One-self i. vi. 50 If it be a great Affliction for a Man to lose his Seeing.., 'tis a much greater to lose all his Senses.
a1704 J. Locke Elem. Nat. Philos. xi, in Coll. Several Pieces (1720) 215 The organ of Seeing is the Eye.
1785 T. Reid Ess. Intellect. Powers 520 Seeing and hearing by philosophers are called senses.
1820 J. Keats Isabella in Lamia & Other Poems 50 He might not in house, field, or garden stir, But her full shape would all his seeing fill.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. i. 229 The range of seeing is different in different persons.
1944 Life 14 Feb. 75/2 (advt.) Good seeing is a priceless asset.
2004 M. Studdert-Kennedy in D. B. Pisoni & R. E. Remez Handbk. Speech Perception (2005) Pref. p. ix Seeing is our first sense, hearing our second.
3. Astronomy. The quality of telescopic observation as controlled by atmospheric conditions; spec. the quality of observed images as dependent upon the degree of atmospheric turbulence, which causes random motion of point images so that they appear as discs.Expressed on a subjective scale from I (best) to V (extremely bad), or precisely as the diameter of the disc (in seconds of arc) produced by a point source under the conditions prevailing. Poor seeing can be countered by adaptive optics (see adaptive adj. Compounds).
ΚΠ
1873 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 106 455 Jupiter was seen between flying clouds, but the seeing was excellent.
1903 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 6th Ser. 5 674 Observatories are put even on high mountains to get rid of the disturbances in this atmosphere, which tend to make the image of every object tremulous.., and to prevent what the astronomer terms ‘good seeing’.
1969 N. Calder Violent Universe 21 The best ‘seeing’ at any working observatory is said to be that at Cerro Tololo, in Chile.
1987 G. Walker Astron. Observ. 137 At a really good site the visible seeing..is typically about one arc second.
2012 S. Townsend Woman who went to Bed for Year lx. 393 The seeing would be good in the Welsh hills.
Phrases
Proverb. seeing is believing (also †leving) and variants: visible evidence is convincing.
ΚΠ
?1609 S. Harward Bipartite Alphabet. Harmony Prov. (MS Trin. Cambr. R.14.18) ii. f. 85 Seeing is leeving.
1627 J. Barlow Seasonable Disc. Spirituall Stedfastnesse 222 Hence growes our English proverb, that Seeing is beleeving.
1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 140 Seeing is believing.
1712 J. Arbuthnot Lewis Baboon iv. 21 There's nothing like Matter of Fact; Seeing is Believing.
1781 T. L. O'Beirne Generous Impostor iv. 60 Seeing's believing: it won't be long before she is put to the trial.
1848 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth 2nd Ser. (ed. 2) 497 Seeing is believing, says the proverb... Though, of all our senses, the eyes are the most easily deceived, we believe them in preference to any other evidence.
1975 A. Price Our Man in Camelot v. 84 ‘Show him the stuff.’.. ‘Okay. Maybe you're right... Seeing is believing, I guess.’
2010 Metro (Nexis) 27 Oct. 18 (headline) If seeing is believing, why do so many of us think spirits actually exist?
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as seeing conditions, seeing faculty, seeing power, etc.
ΚΠ
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 74 And ȝit what othere iȝen or seing power hath God ȝouen to mankinde forto therwith se, than which at sumtyme wolen faile and erre?
1557 H. Iden tr. G. B. Gelli Circes x. sig. S.iijv When hee seeth a whyte thynge, he can of hym selfe vnderstande what thynge whytenes is, and howe it is a colour seperatiue of the seynge vertue.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 180 Wherein it doth impaire the seeing sense, It payes the hearing double recompence.
1696 J. Sergeant Method to Sci. App. 393 From the Act of my Seeing Power, my Eye is Intrinsically Chang'd.
1734 R. Erskine Gospel Sonnets (ed. 4) vi. iv. 253 The seeing Faculty abides, Tho' Sleep from active Seeing hides.
1847 Dublin Q. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 4 384 There is almost as great a difference in the normal hearing distance as there is in the seeing distance.
1869 Pop. Sci. Rev. 8 18 Our conception of a seeing faculty should be physiologically one and the same for all organs of sight.
1948 Life 15 Mar. 111 (advt.) A teacher acquires unusual seeing ability.
1972 A. Helm tr. G. D. Roth Amateur Astronomer & his Telescope vi. 78 A description of the seeing conditions, on the other hand, does pose a bit of a problem.
2010 M. Purves in R. B. Anolik Demons of Body & Mind ii. 190 John's male rationality..prevents him from recognizing the benevolent seeing powers of the blind woman.
C2. † seeing shop n. Obsolete the faculty of sight (likened to a room, with the eyes as windows); cf. shop n. 4b.Apparently an isolated use.
seeing-glass n. in later use English regional (chiefly northern and Lincolnshire), Scottish, and archaic a looking-glass, a mirror.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > mirror > [noun] > looking-glass
looking-glass1526
Venice glass1527
tooting-glassc1560
seeing-glass1565
girdle-glassa1652
Venice looking-glass1655
considering-glass1660
peeper1673
long glass1680
table glass1688
dressing glass1697
keeking-glassa1724
toilet glass1729
long mirror1793
swing-glass1809
hand glass1832
cheval-glass1836
psyche1838
tire-glass1844
tiring-glass1844
driving mirror1907
wing mirror1925
swing mirror1930
vanity mirror1959
1565 J. Jewel tr. Bible 1 Cor. xiii. 12 in Replie Hardinges Answeare xii. 452 Now we see as thorow a seeing glasse in a riddle: but then we shall see face to face.
1662 H. Hibbert Syntagma Theologicum 184 Men of repute are as seeing-glasses, by which most men dresse themselves.
1670 Inventory in Yorks. Notes & Queries Oct. (1906) 149/2 1 cloas stoole with pan, 1 seeing glass, 4 picters, 1 range.
1796 Will 1 Aug. in Notes & Queries (1898) 27 Aug. 164/1 I also give to my wife..a Seeing Glass.
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 150 Seeing-glass, the old-fashioned term for a mirror, formerly a surface of polished metal.
1898 Notes & Queries 15 Oct. 314/1 Seeing-glass for looking-glass is occasionally heard in this neighbourhood [sc. North Lincolnshire], though I hear it is dying out. A Bottesford person said to me in June, 1887:—‘We've hed nowt bud bad luck sin that theäre seein'-glass was brok.’
1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 110/2 Seeing-glass, a looking glass, a glass mirror.
1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 263/1 Seein'-glass, looking glass, mirror.
1998 A. Jackson & all these Roads be Luminous 25 You have to keep taking off garments and putting other ones on until you see your self in the seeing glass.
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1577 N. Breton Floorish vpon Fancie sig. Fiiij With that I winckte for feare, And shut the windowes of my seeing shoppe.
seeing-stone n. now archaic a stone or crystal used for seeing things that are hidden, at a distance, in the past or future, etc.; a crystal ball; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > crystal-gazing > [noun] > object used in
crystal stonea1387
crystala1400
crystal ball?a1513
prospective glassa1584
prospective stonea1584
show-stone1583
prospective1604
seeing-stone1680
ink-mirror1905
1680 W. Lawrence Marriage by Morall Law of God i. v. 45 Dr. Dee had two pretious Stones, or Crystals, which he called the seeing Stones.
1849 D. Rock Church our Fathers I. 295 A globe of crystal was employed by the Druids in their divinations as a seeing-stone.
1849 D. Rock Church our Fathers I. 295 They must look into that true seeing-stone, the teaching of Christ's Church.
1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers iv. vi. 302 Until that time, or some other time beyond the vision of the Seeing-stones of Númenor, farewell!
2005 C. Brennan Song of Unmaking xix. 157 He uncovered the seeing-stone hastily,..and ordered it to show him Gothard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
seeingadj.n.2
/ˈsiːɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsiɪŋ/ 1. Possessing insight or understanding; perceptive, discerning; (originally) spec. that is a seer or prophet (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > [adjective]
sharpc888
yepec1000
spacka1200
yare-witelc1275
fellc1300
yap13..
seeinga1382
far-castinga1387
sightya1400
perceivinga1425
snellc1425
politic?a1439
quickc1449
pregnant?a1475
pert1484
quick-wittedc1525
apt1535
intelligentc1540
queemc1540
ready-witted1576
political1577
of (a) great, deep, etc., reach1579
conceited1583
perspicuous1584
sharp-witteda1586
shrewd1589
inseeing1590
conceived1596
acute1598
pregnate1598
agile1599
nimble-headed1601
insighted1602
nimble1604
nimble-witted1604
penetrant1605
penetrating1606
spraga1616
acuminous1619
discoursing1625
smart1639
penetrativea1641
sagacious1650
nasute1653
acuminate1654
blunt-sharpa1661
long-headed1665
smoky1688
rapid1693
keen1704
gash1706
snack1710
cute1731
mobile1778
wide awake1785
acuminated1786
quick-minded1789
kicky1790
snap1790
downy1803
snacky1806
unbaffleable1827
varmint1829
needle-sharp1836
nimble-brained1836
incisivea1850
spry1849
fast1850
snappy1871
hard-boiled1884
on the spot1903
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [adjective] > gifted with the power of prophecy
seeinga1382
fatidicala1607
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxx. 10 That seyn to men seende [a1425 L.V. profetis; L. videntibus], Wileth not see.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 14804 Quen seand men him herd and sagh, Of him þam stod selcut gret agh.
1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips ii. 16 And [Iohn] was a seing witnesse of all these thinges.
1592 T. Tymme Plaine Discouerie Ten Eng. Lepers B 1 b So David had his seeing Gad to be his watchman.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. v. 191 Strange that a Foraigner should be more seeing herein, then any of our Native Authors and Records that I ever could behold.
1694 R. South 12 Serm. II. 10 The Eye of a Seeing Conscience assures him.
1764 J. Gill Expos. Old Test. II. (2 Sam. xv. 27) 588/1 A seeing, knowing man, one that can penetrate into men and things.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 5 Nothing is wanted but..the light which is the eye of the soul. This seeing light, this enlightening eye, is Reflection.
1887 Orig. Secession Mag. Sept. 378 The loving heart will be a seeing, discerning heart.
1920 E. Phillpotts Orphan Dinah (1921) xiii. 150 ‘He's a very seeing man,’ said Dinah, ‘and he thinks a lot of you, Cousin Joe.’
1965 Pract. Anthropol. Nov. 256/2 If a child got seriously ill, it was taken to a seeing shaman.
2013 A. R. Meuss tr. R. Steiner Physiol. & Healing v. 56 Today we are able to develop powers of a seeing mind.
2. Possessing the faculty of sight; sighted, not blind. Also as n.: sighted people collectively.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > [adjective] > having sight
seeinga1398
sightful1594
eyesighted1599
unblinded1611
visive1686
unblind1818
sighted1836
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. xx. 365 Þe condicioun of seynge men is bettir þan þe condicioun of blynde men.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 13679 (MED) Þai þat noght seis [a1400 Fairf. sese] suld se, And..þe seant [a1400 Fairf. seande, a1400 Gött. seand] blind suld be.
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. l. 1386 (MED) ‘Thei that see,’ he seyth, ‘shul be ful blynde’..The seeynge men be-tokene ȝow, I-wis.
1556 J. Ponet Shorte Treat. Politike Power sig. Kvii What bochering and burning of true Englishe christianes, yong and olde, hole and lame, seing and blynde, man, woman, and childe.
1653 Witnesses produced against Mr. John Shaw of Hull 11 These two [sc. blind witnesses] being heard and withdrawn, we called in the seeing man, one William Wakely.
1749 Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 149/1 Here is no distinction between rich and poor, youth and old age, sick and lame, seeing or blind, but all are upon the same level.
1819 B. G. Narr. Private Soldier 113 A blind and a seeing man were put to work together, to carry two-handed baskets filled with earth.
1887 Athenæum 17 Dec. 818/3 The tendency is..for more and more seeing people to be imported into institutions, until at last they receive more wages than the blind people.
1910 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 19 Nov. 1642/1 The cost of educating blind and seeing children respectively.
1995 M. Bucholtz in K. Hall & M. Bucholtz Gender Articulated iii. xiv. 359 Passing..between the worlds of the insane and the sane, the deaf and the hearing, the blind and the seeing, the gay and the straight.
2005 Woodturning Dec. 21/2 A seeing person approaches the problem completely differently to a blind man.
Derivatives
ˈseeingly adv. with understanding and awareness; in a perceptive or insightful manner.
ΚΠ
1604 W. Willymat Loyal Subiects Looking-glasse (new ed.) i. 12 That subiect which willingly, wittingly, and seeingly yeeldeth to entertaine in his thought an vnreuerent estimation of his Soueraigne cannot be excused in that very acte from despising and despiting of God.
1711 R. Steele et al. Lucubrations Isaac Bickerstaff (rev. ed.) III. 150 This dangerous Way of Assault..makes them seeingly, knowingly, willingly, and forcibly go on to their own Captivity.
1832 Edinb. Rev. July 348 A deep, wide flood of evil..from which, in all ways, blindly and seeingly, men seek deliverance.
1903 H. James Let. 19 Nov. (1984) IV. 290 How can I thank you for taking my book..so kindly and seeingly?
2008 Philos. Music Educ. Rev. 16 17 Only when they make their values..transparent can they select their material reasonably and seeingly.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
seeingconj.
/ˈsiːɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈsiɪŋ/ In view of the fact that; considering that; since.
a. With that.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [conjunction] > seeing that or since
forwhya1400
where1411
whereas1426
seeinga1475
seen1483
fro1535
a1475 ( S. Scrope tr. Dicts & Sayings Philosophers (Bodl. 943) (1999) 184 Bringe hym hastly to me, for y knowe verreily that your myght and wisedome is grete ynough to fulfille a grettir thing, seing that [Fr. veu que] thei of Grece be of so smale dedis and of no value.
a1500 Gospel of Nicodemus (Harl. 149) (1974) 47 (MED) How canste thou speke Ebrew, seenge that [Fr. puis que] thou art a Grew?
c1510 H. Watson tr. Gospelles of Dystaues sig. a.iiiv One toke the wordes for them all and sayd..that them semed..that I sholde do theyr werke well seynge that [Fr. veu que] other tymes I had wryten of ladyes vnto theyr laude & praysynge.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 27 That chronicle should not bee desired, Seyng that it is not trew ne autenticke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. ii. 36 Of all the Wonders that I yet haue heard, It seemes to me most strange that men should feare, Seeing that death..Will come, when it will come. View more context for this quotation
a1681 G. Wharton Æquation of Time in Wks. (1683) 101 Seeing that Inequal days cannot be the measure of equal motions, it is requisite that those Inequal days be converted to equal.
1737 London Mag. May 261/2 I suppose you do not mean an old Woman, seeing that to talk smuttily to such, would be no great Insult.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 390 Which isn't much to be wondered at, seeing that he has just finished six weeks of examination work.
1880 London Med. Rec. 15 Apr. 158/1 ‘Retinoscopy’..would be more correct than keratoscopy, seeing that really the cornea plays no part whatever.
1908 Daily Chron. 14 Aug. 1/5 Why..cannot we have an agreement with Germany, seeing that Great Britain has already concluded ententes with France, Russia, and the United States?
1980 A. Rosenthal Documentary Conscience 138 How do you go about the process of checking your story, seeing that you're only on the spot for a few days?
2003 Metro 19 Sept. (London ed.) 17/4 Seeing that Sex And The City is ending can we expect Chick-lit to hit the bargain bins?
b. Immediately introducing a clause.
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a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 13 (MED) I conclude, seenge the feldis may nat be enhabited, that the citees..shuld be enfamyned.
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxciv. f. ccxlv/2 Seing [Fr. Et puisque la chose est en tel party que] the office is voyde, we can nat tell where ye shulde better enploy it, than on hym.
1537 T. Bedyll Let. 14 June in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) II. 77 As towching the house of the Charterhouse I pray..that it may be turned into a better use (seing it is in the face of the world).
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi iv. §2. 64 How can it therefore be that these should be those supercelestiall waters separated from all other waters by the firmament, seeing the firmament is above them?
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. i. ii. 17 The Top-mast being aloft the Ship..maketh better way.., seeing we have Sea-Room.
1713 J. Puckle Club (ed. 3) 23 Seeing Great Britain affords so many lawyers,..he is doubly a fool that..applies himself to a scab.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 578 It must be of importance to accustom young people to it [sc. vegetable diet], seeing it's influence is..so happy on beauty of person and tranquillity of soul.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Morte d'Arthur in Poems (new ed.) II. 8 Deep harm to disobey, Seeing obedience is the bond of rule.
1889 J. M. Wright Captain's Bargain xi. 175 Seeing he's mine, I'll take him along back with me to-day.
1974 R. Adams Shardik xxv. 209 I can't help wondering..why he trims lamps at all.., seeing it's women's work.
2015 Northern Territory (Austral.) News (Nexis) 9 Feb. 13 Those loudmouths in the grandstand can take up umpiring seeing they are never wrong.
c. colloquial. With as, how, or as how.seeing as how is sometimes regarded as nonstandard.
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1763 I. Bickerstaff Love in Village iii. v. 65 I shall be sorry to leave Mrs. Rosetta, seeing as how matters are so near being brought to an end.
1784 Wit's Mag. Feb. 45/2 Seeing as I saw nothing of her there, I begun to have some hopes that she wur gone.
1857 S. Glover Cradle of Liberty i. i. 4 I reckon I'm pretty considerable well acquainted, seeing as how I was raised and brought up here.
1892 Austral. Jrnl. Apr. 411/2 I ain't going into that now, seeing as I've told you all about it this many a time.
1921 Middlebury (Indiana) Independent 1 Apr. 2/3 Seeing how you were never in a saloon we'll enlighten you.
1974 S. Gulliver Vulcan Bull. 29 Seeing as how you're always short of £sd, I thought you could maybe earn a bit.
1992 R. Kenan Let Dead bury their Dead i. 12 It didn't slice clean off, but seeing how he'd just got the cultivator new it was sharp as the devil.
2015 D. Whitehouse Mobile Libr. 114 You should never ask a woman her age,..but seeing as it's you I'll make an exception.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.11372adj.n.2a1382
conj.a1475