inning English · revision 39443

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 899, Alfred's Boethius|origins=ang inn}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɪnɪŋ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|innynge|t=a getting in]],^(AHD 2024)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|innung|t=a putting in, a taking in]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Collins 2023) a verbal noun formed on [[m|ang|innian|t=to put or bring in, to lodge]], from [[m|ang|inn|t=in, within]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966) The OED treats the modern word as formed within English from the adverb and verb [[in]] with the suffix [[-ing]].^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) It compares [[ofs|inninge|t=income]], [[dum|inninge|t=collection of fines or payments]], [[gmh|innunge|t=guild, corporation]] and [[non|inning|t=fulfilment of a legal agreement]].^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Old English, a putting or getting in, and what was got in: contents, income.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) Barnhart finds it before 899, in Alfred's translation of Boethius.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English ''ynnynge'' was the getting in of crops, the harvest, a sense first found in Hoccleve about 1407 and now only regional or historical.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) From the early 16th century it also meant the taking in or enclosing of land, especially the reclaiming of marsh or flooded ground, and in the plural the reclaimed land itself.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) The games sense comes from the side that is "in", at the bat: in cricket a side's turn at batting is recorded from 1721 in the OED, while Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1735 and Barnhart to 1738, in the form ''innings''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1988) Webster in 1828 still gave the harvest sense first and the cricket sense second.^(Webster 1828) British English kept ''innings'' for cricket, and the singular ''inning'' became the American word for a unit of play in [[baseball]], recorded from 1845.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) The figurative sense of a turn or chance to act appears in Dickens's ''Pickwick Papers'' (1836) as ''innings'', and as ''inning'', chiefly in the United States, from 1885.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 899 – Old English ''innung'', a putting or taking in.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * ?1407 – the gathering in of crops, in Hoccleve.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1528 – the enclosing of land, especially reclaimed marsh.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1721 – in cricket, a side's turn at batting.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1735 – a team's turn in a game, according to Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1845 – a unit of play in baseball.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1885 – figuratively, a turn or period of power or opportunity.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(baseball)'' One of the nine divisions of a regular game, in which each team takes one turn at [[bat]] and one in the field.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # ''(cricket)'' A side's or a player's turn at batting; in British use usually ''innings''.^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A turn or chance to act or have one's say; a period of [[power]] or influence.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''(archaic)'' The [[reclamation]] of land from the sea or from [[marsh|alt=marshes]]; in the plural, land reclaimed in this way.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[innings]]

+ * [[in]]

+ * [[inn]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ According to Barry Popik, Manhattan College has claimed to have started baseball's "seventh-inning stretch" in 1882, although a similar stretch is recorded at a Cincinnati game in 1869.^(Popik|"Seventh-inning stretch", 7 June 2006)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}