embarking

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of embark.

   The troops were embarking under cover of darkness.

   He is embarking on an ambitious research project this fall.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of embark, not just the literal boarding. People are embarking on or upon a venture; transitively, a crew is embarking troops, or a backer is embarking money in an affair. A separate use means covering something with bark. As a gerund it can take a direct object (embarking passengers took hours), which sets it apart from the noun meaning "an embarkation", whose plural is embarkings.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of going aboard a ship, boat, or aircraft, especially to begin a voyage.

   The embarking of the regiment was delayed by heavy seas.

   Officials supervised the embarking of refugees onto the rescue vessel.

   Similarboarding, embarkation

   Oppositedisembarkation

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