heating

1. 1
   noununcountable

   A system that raises and maintains the temperature inside a room or building.

   The building's central heating runs on natural gas.

   Older apartments often have unreliable heating during cold snaps.

   Oppositecooling

   Note

   The word covers the whole installation, not a single appliance. The heating is the system that warms a building, while a heater is one device that warms a room. In everyday use it usually takes the and no plural, as in having the new heating installed. It can still be counted when separate systems are being compared.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The action or process of making something hot.

   The heating of metals causes them to expand.

   Uneven heating left part of the casserole cold.

   Similarwarming

   Oppositecooling

   Note

   This action noun counts easily when each round of heat is a separate step in a process. A crucible can be subjected to several heatings, and The Mineral Industry (1913) speaks of "repeated swagings and heatings," pairing it with another metalworking step. Use the plural for distinct episodes, and keep the mass noun, as in the heating of metals, for the process in general.

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle of heat.

   The furnace is heating the entire building tonight.

   Volunteers are heating soup for everyone at the shelter.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of the verb heat. It can be transitive (heating the soup), intransitive (the oven is heating) or paired with up (heating up the room). The figurative senses come along too, as in tempers heating or an argument heating up. As a gerund it shades into the noun for the act, and a plural or an article (the heating of metals) marks the noun.

4. 4
   adjective

   Producing heat, or serving to make something warm.

   The ointment has a gentle heating effect on the skin.

   Engineers tested the heating element under a heavy load.

   Oppositecooling

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