hiccuping

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act of producing the short, sharp sound characteristic of a hiccup.

   Her uncontrollable hiccuping interrupted the speech several times.

   The patient's persistent hiccuping puzzled the doctors for days.

   Note

   Unlike the gerund of the verb form, this is a full noun: it can take a plural, hiccupings, and sits naturally after possessives and adjectives, as in her persistent hiccuping. A quick way to tell them apart is an object. The gerund can take one, as in hiccuping an apology, but the noun cannot.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of hiccup.

   She started hiccuping right in the middle of her presentation.

   The dog was hiccuping after eating its food too quickly.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of the verb, not only the bodily one. Most often it stands alone (the baby kept hiccuping), but it can also take an object, meaning to say something with a hiccup: hiccuping an apology. It stretches, too, to any abortive sound that merely resembles a hiccup. The doubled spelling hiccupping also occurs, and both are acceptable.

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