careering

1. 1
   noununcountable

   Rapid, uncontrollable headlong motion.

   The careering of the loose trailer across three lanes caused a pileup.

   Spectators gasped at the toboggan's careering toward the barrier.

   Similarcareening, hurtling

   Note

   As a noun it can be counted, with careerings as the plural. In The Aurora Borealis (1833) a rider knows "the well known plunges and careerings of a favorite steed." There the word names separate bolts and dashes rather than one continuous rush, and it sits comfortably beside plunges. Built from career plus -ing, it differs from the verb form by taking an article or a possessive.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of career.

   The car came careering around the corner, narrowly missing a lamppost.

   She watched the sled go careering down the steep slope.

   Note

   The -ing form belongs to the verb of motion, not to the working life. Career as a verb means to move rapidly straight ahead, especially out of control. Its kinship with the noun shows in the noun's archaic sense of speed and in a jouster's path during a joust. The same spelling also serves as a gerund, which shades into the noun for headlong motion.

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