emptying

Pluralemptyings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of empty.

   The workers spent the morning emptying the warehouse.

   Emptying the reservoir took several days of steady pumping.

   Note

   The -ing form carries the verb's uses, divided by what follows. With an object it is transitive: emptying the warehouse. Without one it can describe a container losing its contents by itself (the tank is emptying), or a river or duct draining toward its destination (a stream emptying into the bay). As a gerund it takes its object directly, while the noun for the act needs of: the emptying of the reservoir.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or process by which something has its contents removed.

   The emptying of the reservoir was scheduled for early spring.

   Regular emptying of the septic tank prevents any overflow.

   Similardraining, clearing, evacuation

   Oppositefilling

   Note

   An action noun that can be counted: a bucket under a leaky roof needs frequent emptyings, each one a separate occasion. In the singular it usually comes with of and the thing emptied, as in the emptying of the reservoir. The plural deserves a second look in a kitchen or brewery, where emptyings can instead mean the yeast used to raise bread.

3. 3
   nounplural

   Alternative form of emptins. An old word, usually in the plural emptyings, for homemade liquid yeast.

   Note

   A brewer's word that crossed into the kitchen: the sediment left at the bottom of beer or cider, and the yeast taken from those remains to leaven bread. It normally appears in the plural, like emptins itself. The -ing spelling makes it look like a form of the verb, but the meaning has nothing to do with clearing out a container. The sediment sense belongs to colloquial speech.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3