playing

Pluralplayings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of play.

   The band kept playing long after the crowd had thinned out.

   Playing in the orchestra gave her a real sense of belonging.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After be it builds the progressive (the band was playing), and on its own it works as a verbal noun (playing in the orchestra). Because play is both transitive and intransitive, either use can take a direct object: playing chess, playing goalkeeper, playing a rival. The countable noun cannot do that. It needs of instead, as in a playing of the anthem.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A single occasion when a piece of music, a show, or something similar is played.

   A single playing of the national anthem opened the ceremony.

   Repeated playings of the demo helped the producer spot its flaws.

   Similarperformance, rendition, airing, hearing

   Note

   A gerund that has hardened into a countable noun: it takes an article and a plural, so one can speak of a first playing, repeated playings, or all playings. Broadcasting uses it for each airing of a recorded show. Edward Wyatt, in the New York Times in 2009, reported Nielsen viewership "across all playings" of an episode. Unlike the verb form, it names a single event, not the ongoing activity.

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