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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Figtree3, post: 184901, member: 33&quot;]Greg,</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a long entry from the Oxford English Dictionary about the word &quot;pinking.&quot; In case you are not familiar, after each definition there is a list of quotes from sources that indicate early instances of the word being used with each definition. Sorry for any formatting glitches in the pasted text below.</p><p>This may not completely answer your question but I think it&#039;s interesting.</p><p><br /></p><p>pinking, n.1</p><p><br /></p><p>Pronunciation:&nbsp; Brit.&nbsp; &nbsp; /ˈpɪŋkɪŋ/ ,&nbsp; U.S.&nbsp; /ˈpɪŋkɪŋ/</p><p>Forms:&nbsp; see pink v.1&nbsp;&nbsp; and -ing suffix1.</p><p>Frequency (in current use):&nbsp; </p><p>Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: pink v.1, -ing suffix1.</p><p>Etymology: &lt; pink v.1 + -ing suffix1.</p><p>1.</p><p><br /></p><p>a. The action of pinking cloth, leather, a garment, etc.; an instance of this. Also pinking-out. Cf. pink v.1 1.</p><p><br /></p><p>1503&nbsp;&nbsp; in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 221&nbsp;&nbsp; Item, for making of the said goun..xxs. Item, for pynking of the sleffis of it..vs. xd.</p><p>1558&nbsp;&nbsp; in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 86&nbsp;&nbsp; Nicholas Marten for pynckinge of xxxv yardes di. of satten.</p><p>1611&nbsp;&nbsp; R. Cotgrave Dict. French &amp; Eng. Tongues&nbsp;&nbsp; Deschiquetement,..a iagging,..a pinking, or small, and thicke cutting.</p><p>1688&nbsp;&nbsp; R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 350/1&nbsp;&nbsp; The Pinking of a Shooe, when the grain of the Leather is raised by a sharp pointed Tool, that the inner part is seen.</p><p>1743&nbsp;&nbsp; tr. N. Andry Orthopædia II. 78&nbsp;&nbsp; Some advise to give squint-eyed Children small Writing to read, or employ them in fine Needle-Work, as in very fine Tapestry, Embroidery, or Pinking.</p><p>1845&nbsp;&nbsp; Dickens Chimes ii. 63,&nbsp;&nbsp; I introduced pinking and eyelet-holeing among the men.</p><p>1883&nbsp;&nbsp; Daily News 22 Sept. 3/3&nbsp;&nbsp; The mode of finishing the edges..known as ‘pinking-out’, continues to be followed.</p><p>1961&nbsp;&nbsp; Great Bend (Kansas) Daily Tribune 17 Mar.&nbsp;&nbsp; Sewing, pinking, button-holing and related tasks are completed on the production line.</p><p>2001&nbsp;&nbsp; Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 9 Nov. f11,&nbsp;&nbsp; Cutting serrated edges on the strips, pinking is a common sewing technique.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>b. Any work decorated in this way; esp. an ornamental edging or trim.</p><p><br /></p><p>1611&nbsp;&nbsp; R. Hakluyt tr. F. de Soto Discov. &amp; Conquest terra Florida iii. 15&nbsp;&nbsp; The Castellans very gallant with silke upon silke, with many pinkings and cuts.</p><p>1666&nbsp;&nbsp; S. Pepys Diary 17 Oct. (1972) VII. 328&nbsp;&nbsp; The King says the pinking upon white makes them look too much like magpyes, and therefore hath bespoke one [vest] of plain velvet.</p><p>1677&nbsp;&nbsp; J. Phillips tr. M. de Scudéry Almahide ii. i. 69/2&nbsp;&nbsp; The persecuting Aladin varied his Discourse on the pinkings and lacings, and a hundred different follies.</p><p>1766&nbsp;&nbsp; O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. iv. 39&nbsp;&nbsp; These rufflings, and pinkings, and patchings, will only make us hated by all the wives of all our neighbours.</p><p>1860&nbsp;&nbsp; F. W. Fairholt Costume in Eng. (ed. 2) (Gloss.),&nbsp;&nbsp; Pinking, an ornamental edging cut to silk dresses by a machine that makes a semicircular jagged indent, something after the fashion of the ancient leaf-borders.</p><p>1952&nbsp;&nbsp; C. Camden Elizabethan Woman viii. 227&nbsp;&nbsp; Cloth hats are elaborately trimmed with embroidery, pinking, or jewelry.</p><p>1999&nbsp;&nbsp; C. Mendelson Home Comforts l. 600/1&nbsp;&nbsp; Seam edges should always be finished somehow, with pinking, stitching or serging, or seam binding.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>†2. The action or an act of tattooing. Cf. pink v.1 3. Obs. rare.</p><p><br /></p><p>1611&nbsp;&nbsp; J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. v. vii. 179/1&nbsp;&nbsp; Their cutting, pincking and pouncing of their flesh, with garnishments..of sundry shapes and fashions.</p><p>(Hide quotations)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>3. The action or an act of piercing, beating, or striking. Also fig. Cf. pink v.1 2. Now rare (chiefly Sc.).</p><p><br /></p><p>1637&nbsp;&nbsp; N. Whiting Le Hore di Recreatione 107&nbsp;&nbsp; He then is frighted with the shrill recheat And feares a pinking with the yellers fangs.</p><p>1673&nbsp;&nbsp; H. N. Payne Morning Ramble iv. 57&nbsp;&nbsp; A way many a Young Gallant hath prevented the pinking his Doublet by—.</p><p>1687&nbsp;&nbsp; A. Behn Emperor of Moon i. ii. 15&nbsp;&nbsp; Who the Devil can this be? I felt a Poniard, and am glad I sav&#039;d my Skin from pinking.</p><p>1720&nbsp;&nbsp; J. Leigh Kensington-Gardens v. 83&nbsp;&nbsp; Lucinda: Rascal! Villain! Bardach: No Matter for that; this is better than pinking.</p><p>1796&nbsp;&nbsp; Eloise de Montblanc III. 84,&nbsp;&nbsp; I was coming..to see Sir Augustus after the pinking he received.</p><p>1844&nbsp;&nbsp; Thackeray Barry Lyndon i. xvii, in Fraser&#039;s Mag. Aug. 241/1,&nbsp;&nbsp; I do believe she advanced my cause more than six months&#039; courtship could have done, or the pinking of a half-dozen of rivals.</p><p>1899&nbsp;&nbsp; J. H. Smith Troubadours at Home I. xxi. 346&nbsp;&nbsp; Whoever crossed swords with him was pretty sure of an audacious pinking in the ribs.</p><p>1906&nbsp;&nbsp; Elyria (Ohio) Chron. 18 Jan. 6/3&nbsp;&nbsp; This fencing was with pointed swords, and already there had been a deal of pinking.</p><p>1965&nbsp;&nbsp; Sc. National Dict. at Pink,&nbsp;&nbsp; Pinkin, a beating, thrashing.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Compounds</p><p><br /></p><p>C1.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; pinking machine&nbsp; n.</p><p><br /></p><p>a1865&nbsp;&nbsp; E. C. Gaskell Let. (1966) 816&nbsp;&nbsp; Dear Miss Watkins, Thank you very much for the use of the Pinking Machine.</p><p>1916&nbsp;&nbsp; E. Wharton in Scribner&#039;s Mag. Oct. 442/1&nbsp;&nbsp; Evelina languidly put her pinking-machine on the table, and sat down to the monotonous work of pinking a heap of black silk flounces.</p><p>1998&nbsp;&nbsp; Textile Horizons June 28/1 (advt.)&nbsp; &nbsp; Pinking machines Motorised, manual &amp; heavy duty.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; pinking punch&nbsp; n.</p><p><br /></p><p>1909&nbsp;&nbsp; N.E.D. at Punch,&nbsp;&nbsp; Pinking punch.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>C2.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp; pinking iron&nbsp; n. now chiefly hist. a sharp instrument for cutting out pinked borders; (humorously) a sword.</p><p><br /></p><p>1761&nbsp;&nbsp; in E. Singleton Social N.Y. under Georges (1902) 242&nbsp;&nbsp; <i> have ever since been so scrupulous an observer of it [sc. taste] that I never was the mark of a pinking-iron behind it.</i></p><p><i>1858&nbsp;&nbsp; P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products&nbsp;&nbsp; Pinking-iron, a cutting instrument for scolloping the edges of ribbons, flounces, paper for coffin trimmings, &amp;c.</i></p><p><i>1897&nbsp;&nbsp; Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 335/3&nbsp;&nbsp; Our woman&#039;s tool set consists of..one pinking iron, one darning egg, [etc.].</i></p><p><i>1984&nbsp;&nbsp; Washington Post (Nexis) 23 Feb. 15&nbsp;&nbsp; Kitchen equipment including a coffee grinder, pinking irons, a copper preserving kettle and pewter plates.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>&nbsp; pinking scissors&nbsp; n. = pinking shears n.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>1938&nbsp;&nbsp; Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune 8 Dec. 9/1 (advt.)&nbsp; &nbsp; Electric Irons, Scissors, Pinking Scissors, Percolators, [etc.].</i></p><p><i>1979&nbsp;&nbsp; E. Taylor in I. Webb Compl. Guide Flower &amp; Foliage Arrangem. viii. 103/1&nbsp;&nbsp; Pinking scissors will avoid having to hem the edges.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>&nbsp; pinking shears&nbsp; n. scissors with a serrated blade, used to cut a zigzag edge, esp. to prevent fraying of fabric.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>1934&nbsp;&nbsp; Helena (Montana) Daily Independent 11 Mar. 11/4&nbsp;&nbsp; If you have pinking shears, use them for cutting because that gives a nice finished edge to the ruffles.</i></p><p><i>1995&nbsp;&nbsp; Mod. Woman Jan. 47/1&nbsp;&nbsp; Sewing scissors and pinking shears. The zigzag edge prevents fraying.</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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