crunching

Pluralcrunchings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of crunch.

   She kept crunching the gravel underfoot as she walked up the drive.

   Crunching through fresh snow, they made their way to the cabin.

   Note

   One -ing form does two jobs here. As a participle it builds progressive tenses and opening phrases (she was crunching the gravel; crunching through snow, they reached the cabin). As a gerund it fills a noun's slot but keeps its object, so crunching numbers can serve as a subject. It follows both uses of crunch: transitive when something is crushed (crunching gravel), intransitive when the thing itself gives way (the gravel was crunching underfoot).

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The sharp, grinding sound produced when something hard is crushed, ground, or broken.

   Like the noise of biting into a fresh, crisp apple.

   The steady crunching of boots on snow echoed across the silent field.

   A sudden crunching warned them that the frozen lake was cracking underfoot.

   Similargrinding, crackling, scrunching

   Note

   Here the -ing word has become a true noun, and what follows it tells you so. The noun takes of, as in the crunching of boots, and it can be counted, with the plural crunchings. The verb form takes a direct object instead, as in crunching numbers. The noun also takes an adjective where the verb would take an adverb: a sudden crunching, not a suddenly crunching.

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