taking offn.

c1450 MS Douce 559 in Middle Eng. Dict. at Taking(e Tell me this, iff that the See With often taking off may y-Lattyd be.

1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke iv. ix. f. xcvii The takyng offe of our cappes to our superiours.

1590 J. Hester tr. J. Du Chesne Sclopotarie iii. 56 There be two kindes [of remedie], the one miserable and pitifull, yet necessarie to preserue the rest of the whole bodie, which is, taking off of the member wounded.

1643 J. Brinsley Church Reformation iii. 52 The pruning and taking off of superfluous Branches.

1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 209 Having Destributed that Taking off he makes another Taking off as before.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 66 Thou [sc. money] art not worth..the taking off of the Ground.

1738 Hist. Reg. No. 89. 42/2 We must reckon that the taking off of these two Duties will be a yearly Saving.

1841 W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 791 Boys are employed in machine printing to take away the sheets as they are printed..; this is also styled Taking-off.

1842 Justice of Peace 19 Nov. 720/1 There shall be a taking off and putting on of horses for the sole purpose of evading the toll.

1849 E. Copley Comprehensive Knitting-bk. 12 By reversing the right hand pin, so inserting it in two stitches, not in front but at the back of the left hand pin, and knitting them off as one. This is called ‘taking off at the back’.

1914 Gas Engine Apr. 267/2 He recommends the taking off of the cover of the nozzle and placing a piece of paper in front of the nozzle opening.

1970 Trans. Royal Soc. Canada 4th Ser. 7 38 The purchase of winter or summer clothing, the changing of tires, the fitting of the storm sash and the taking off.

2008 C. Müller Metaphors Dead & Alive iii. 90 The returning home from the ball, the taking off of makeup and nice clothes, represent the loss of magic on their return home.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) i. vii. 20 His Vertues Will pleade like Angels, Trumpet-tongu'd against The deepe damnation of his taking off . View more context for this quotation

1683 tr. Eusebius Life Constantine ii. iii, in tr. Eusebius Hist. Church 552/1 That ought to be accounted a pious and holy Action, when by the taking off of one person, the greatest part of mankind is preserved.

1796 Monthly Mirror Feb. 214 The disgraceful manner of ‘their taking off’ must excite her pity and abhorrence.

1855 H. James Nature of Evil 282 I greatly deplore my friend's untimely taking-off, for he was better than estimable, he was truly amiable.

1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Romance 180 If a man or woman was to be spared it was..because their taking off was a waste of powder and lead.

1901 G. W. Townsend Our Martyred President vi. 142 The death of President McKinley carried into every patriotic home a sorrow such as the taking off of very few public men has ever before caused.

1971 L. N. Fitzhugh in J. J. Good Cannon Smoke 26 Sudden death of disease was so frequent..that few lived without active fear of the sudden taking-off of themselves or loved ones.

1981 R. Davies Rebel Angels (1983) xi. 300 The story of Urky's taking-off appeared on the Monday as a report of an inexplicable murder.

1755 Connoisseur No. 57. ⁋3 Imitations of..well-known characters..to which they have given the appellation of taking-off.

1860 Pulpit & Stage i. i. 46 The laugh, the joke, or the biting sarcasm is levelled at their own vices and peculiarities, and is a ‘taking off’ of themselves.

1867 Dublin Univ. Mag. Feb. 228/1 There must be no more ‘taking off’ of actors.

1962 J. Jones On Aristotle & Greek Trag. iv. i. 240 The effect of the parody is irrecoverable in so far as it depends on the taking off of Euripides's musical idiosyncrasies, about which we know almost nothing.

1985 M. A. Doody Daring Muse ii. 47 Such a ‘taking off’, such displacements and plays of style, render the opponent helpless.

1881 Times 14 Feb. 4/2 The taking off at the jumps was awkward, and the landing more ugly still.

1900 C. B. Fry in A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 73 The heel is planted with great violence on the ground in taking-off.

1947 R. H. Markham Tito's Imperial Communism xvii. 180 Mihailovitch built adequate runways for the landing and taking off of large, loaded American bombers.

1997 N. Bishop Secrets of Animal Flight 14 Taking off is a lot of effort, but at least it's not as dangerous as landing.

1825 Glasgow Mechanics' Mag. 1 Oct. 99/2 Each sheet of paper, after printing, is conducted to the taking off tapes, and is by them carried up, and ultimately deposited upon the table at the top of the machine.

1882 Worcs. Exhib. Catal. iii. 38 Printing Machine with..automatic taking-off apparatus.

1888 F. J. F. Wilson & D. Grey Pract. Treat. Mod. Printing Machinery iii. 102 A set of thick indiarubber rings are placed along a spindle immediately above and flush to the taking-off drum.

1973 J. Moran Printing Presses (1978) ix. 138 The bigger machines were fitted with a double-inking motion, and a taking-off apparatus.

1998 F. G. Kilgour Evol. of Bk. x. 119 The resultant increased speed of paper flow necessitated increasing the speed of the taking-off device.

1836 New Sporting Mag. Apr. 338 A brook of no common dimensions, with some amazingly stiff posts and railing on the taking off side.

1898 L. Stephen Stud. of Biographer I. vii. 230 A mere taking-off place for a flight into the clouds.

1972 S. K. Langer Mind II. xiii. 93 Many plovers and sandpipers show the same cyclic flight with considerably greater radius and return sweep to the taking-off spot.

1997 T. Pang Introd. Computational Physics (2006) i. 15 Find the tilting angle of the taking-off ramp that can produce the longest range.

1833 Guide to Knowl. 12 Oct. 612/2 It meets the form, receives the impression, and passes up through the tapes..on to the taking-off board..where it is received by the boy.

1884 J. Southward Pract. Printing 462 When printed,..[the sheets] are deposited in a pile on the taking-off board.

1973 J. Moran Printing Presses (1978) xi. 160 The cylinders became independent of one another, and delivered the sheets on to their respective taking-off boards.

1833 Penny Mag. Monthly Suppl. Dec. 509 It is ‘perfected’, or printed on the remaining blank side, and thrown out to the ‘taking-off-boy’, who sits waiting to receive it.

1884 Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper 3 Feb. 3/5 It would appear that the deceased was employed about a twelvemonth since as a ‘taking-off boy’ at a jobbing printer's.

1988 P. Fitzgerald Beginning of Spring v. 39 Frank..called a general meeting to discuss the conduct of the overseer. This meant the three hand-compositors and their two apprentices, the pressmen, the readers, and three machine-men, the putting-on and taking-off boys, [etc.].