# holing

Pronunciation: say "HOHL-ing" US /ˈhoʊlɪŋ/, UK /ˈhəʊlɪŋ/, AUS /ˈhɐʉlɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of hole. — present participle and gerund of hole
   - Simple: Present participle of hole. Use it when something is making a hole right now.
   - _The submerged reef was holing vessels all along that stretch of coast._
   - _He is holing the ball from twenty feet out on the final green._

## Noun

2. The undercutting of a coal seam at its base, done to bring down the mass of coal above.
   - Simple: Cutting away the lower part of a coal layer so the top breaks and falls down.
   - _The holing was cut deep enough to drop the entire upper bench of coal._
   - _Hand holing gave way to machine cutters in most modern collieries._

## Origin

Formed from hole (meaning "a hollow") plus the suffix -ing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/holing (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).