fanning

• IPA^(key): /ˈfænɪŋ/

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• Rhymes: -ænɪŋ

fanning

1. present participle and gerund of fan

fanning (plural fannings)

1. The act by which something is fanned.
   • 1764, James Grainger, The Sugar Cane:

     Each shrub of shade, each tree of spreading root, / That woo the first glad fannings of the breeze.

2. A very small fragment of tea leaf.
   • 2013, Victor R. Preedy, Tea in Health and Disease Prevention:

     Generally orthodox teas have four grades, namely whole leaf, broken leaf, fannings and dust.

3. (UK, slang, archaic) A beating.
   • 2013, John Gardner, Moriarty:

     […] he found himself facing these four grim coves, big as bull-beef, demanders by trade and ready to give him a fanning, which they did, advising him to keep out of the Professor's way in future and never to speak with any from Idle Jack's family again. Within fifteen minutes, Carmichael had three broken ribs, a broken arm, a cracked cheekbone, a badly swollen eye, and was minus five teeth.

• fanning mill

• (beating): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary