burping

Pluralburpings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of burp.

   He couldn't stop burping after drinking the soda too quickly.

   Burping the baby gently helped her settle down before sleep.

   Note

   A form that does double duty. After be it builds the progressive (he was burping), and on its own it names the activity (burping at the table). It carries all of burp's constructions: intransitive for the body's own release, and transitive for what is uttered by burping, for a baby a parent helps along, and for a fermenting jar opened to vent gas.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The act of getting a baby to bring up swallowed air, or of releasing built-up gas from a fermenting container.

   A thorough burping after the bottle helped the infant avoid a stomachache.

   Each crock of fermenting cabbage got a careful burping every morning.

   Similarwinding, venting

   Note

   Unlike the noise itself, this noun counts. A newborn's day holds many burpings, and Janet Frongillo's Mommy Mixology (2012) lists them beside feedings as part of that routine. The same countable act belongs to the fermenter's routine, when a crock or jar is opened to let gas escape. In both cases someone else does the burping, to the baby or to the vessel.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The noise produced when air rises from the stomach and escapes through the mouth.

   A muffled burping came from somewhere behind the closed door.

   His enormous burping drew disapproving looks from the other diners.

   Similarbelching

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