placing

Pluralplacings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of place.

   The crew is placing heavy stones along the path.

   By placing the speakers in the corners, they filled the room with sound.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs. It is the progressive participle in they are placing the stones, and the gerund in placing the speakers well matters. It carries every meaning of the verb, including the competitive one, where an ordinal follows directly (placing third), and the singer's, where placing a note means hitting its pitch. The competitive use sits close to the race-result noun.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The action of putting something into a position; placement or positioning.

   The placing of the monument required permission from the city council.

   Her precise placing of every instrument made the recording sound balanced.

   Similarplacement, positioning, arrangement

   Note

   A noun that keeps the verb's sense of a deliberate act, usually framed as the placing of something. Stirling Everard, writing in Railway Magazine in 1951, singles out the placing of the safety valves on a locomotive's boiler barrel as a design choice. Placement and positioning can stand in for it. When the focus shifts from the act to where a thing ends up, the word moves toward the resulting condition.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   Where a competitor finishes in a race, such as first, second, or third.

   A second-place placing earned her a spot in the national finals.

   The judges confirmed each runner's placing after reviewing the photo finish.

   Similarposition, finish, ranking

   Note

   The results-table noun, and it takes a plural easily: a season of consistent placings, her placings across the series. It is the noun behind the verb's competitive use, so a runner who places third earns a third placing. In horse and dog racing, though, to place can mean specifically to finish second, which is worth remembering when reading race reports.

4. 4
   noun

   The state or condition of having been placed.

   The sculpture's placing in the courtyard gave it a commanding presence.

   The team was pleased with the trophy's placing at the center of the display case.

   Similarposition, placement, location

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