composing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of compose.

   He spent the evening composing letters to old friends.

   Composing herself after the shock, she answered the question calmly.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every meaning of compose, from writing music to settling the nerves. In the calming sense it is usually reflexive: composing herself, composing himself. Take care with the 'make up' meaning. The parts compose the whole, as in 'the states composing the union'. Using it the other way round, for comprise, with the whole composing its parts, is nonstandard.

2. 2
   adjective

   Tending to bring about a calm, composed state; relaxing.

   Like soft music that slowly loosens the tension in your shoulders.

   There was something composing about the steady rhythm of the waves.

   The therapist spoke in a low, composing tone that eased the patient's nerves.

   Similarcalming, soothing, relaxing, restful

   Oppositeunsettling, agitating, disturbing

   Note

   Unlike the verb form, the adjective is gradable and takes more and most. L. E. Landon's Lady Anne Granard (1838) has a lord who "composed himself in his most composing arm-chair", playing it against the reflexive verb. That pairing explains the word: a composing thing does to you what you do when you compose yourself. Composing describes whatever calms; composed describes the person who has been calmed.

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