-ing
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-ing 1
suff.
1. Used to form the present participle of verbs: seeing.
2. Used to form adjectives resembling present participles but not derived from verbs: swashbuckling.
[Middle English, alteration (influenced by -inge, noun or gerund suff.; see -ing2) of -ende, -inde, from Old English -ende, present participle suff.]
-ing 2
suff.
1.
a. Action, process, or art: dancing.
b. An instance of an action, process, or art: a gathering.
2. An action or process connected with a specified thing: berrying.
3.
a. Something necessary to perform an action or process: mooring.
b. The result of an action or process: a drawing.
c. Something connected with a specified thing or concept: siding; offing.
[Middle English, from Old English -ung, -ing.]
-ing 3
suff.
One having a specified quality or nature: sweeting.
[Middle English, from Old English, belonging to, descended from.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
-ing
suffix forming nouns
1. (Grammar) (from verbs) the action of, process of, result of, or something connected with the verb: coming; meeting; a wedding; winnings.
2. (Grammar) (from other nouns) something used in, consisting of, involving, etc: tubing; soldiering.
3. (from other parts of speech): an outing.
[Old English -ing, -ung]
-ing
suffix
1. (Grammar) forming the present participle of verbs: walking; believing.
2. (Grammar) forming participial adjectives: a growing boy; a sinking ship.
3. (Grammar) forming adjectives not derived from verbs: swashbuckling.
[Middle English -ing, -inde, from Old English -ende]
-ing
suffix forming nouns
(Grammar) a person or thing having a certain quality or being of a certain kind: sweeting; whiting.
[Old English -ing; related to Old Norse -ingr]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
-ing1
, a suffix of nouns formed from verbs, expressing the action of the verb or its result, product, material, etc. (the art of building; a new building; cotton wadding). It is also used to form nouns from words other than verbs (offing; shirting). Compare -ing2.
[Middle English; Old English -ing, -ung]
-ing2
, a suffix forming the present participle of verbs (walking; thinking), such participles being often used as participial adjectives: warring factions. Compare -ing1.
[Middle English -ing, -inge; the variant -in (usually represented in sp. as -in') continues Middle English -inde, -ende, Old English -ende]
pron: The common suffix -ing2 can be pronounced in modern English as (-ɪŋ) or (-ɪn) The two pronunciations reflect the use of one nasal as against another (velar vs. alveolar) and not, as is popularly supposed, “dropping the g,” since no actual g-sound is involved. Many speakers use both (-ɪŋ) and (-ɪn) depending on speed of utterance and the relative formality of the occasion. For some educated speakers, esp. in the southern United States and Britain, (-ɪn) is the common pronunciation, while others use (-ɪŋ) virtually always. In response to correction from perceived authorities, many American speakers who would ordinarily use (-ɪn) at least some of the time make a conscious effort to say (-ɪŋ) however informal the circumstances.
-ing3
, a suffix meaning “one belonging to,” “of the kind of,” “one descended from,” and sometimes having a diminutive force, formerly used in the formation of nouns: bunting; farthing; gelding; shilling; whiting. Compare -ling1.
[Middle English, Old English -ing, c. Old Norse -ingr, -ungr, Gothic -ings]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.