minding

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of mind.

   He spent the morning minding the front desk before his shift ended.

   Minding her own business, she walked past the argument without a word.

   Note

   The -ing form carries the verb's whole range, from watching over something to obeying it: minding the shop, minding your manners, minding the step. As a gerund it takes a direct object (minding the children), while the noun of heed needs of. In some regions it can also mean remembering, so minding the old days may mean recalling them rather than guarding them.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of giving heed or careful attention to something.

   The minding of the family accounts fell to the eldest daughter each year.

   Good shepherding is largely a matter of constant minding of the flock.

   Similarcare, attention, supervision, oversight

   Oppositeneglect

   Note

   A noun with a line of its own, going back to Middle English mynding. Unlike the everyday -ing form, it can be counted. Richard Baxter, in a sermon written before 1691, sets "mindings of the things of another world" beside holy breathings and groans of prayer. Each minding there is a separate act of the spirit turning its attention. The plural, mindings, is the usage clue: it marks a noun, not a verb form.

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