pleasuring

Pluralpleasurings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An act of giving someone pleasure, ranging from simple enjoyment to sexual gratification.

   The evening unfolded as a leisurely pleasuring of the guests with food, wine, and song.

   She thought of the long bath as a private pleasuring of her aching body.

   Similarindulgence, pampering, gratification

   Note

   A countable noun, so it takes a plural. Robert Louis Stevenson's Familiar Studies of Men and Books (1882) speaks of "pleasureless pleasurings": acts meant to please that no longer do. The plural is what sets it apart from the gerund, which names the activity in general, while pleasurings counts separate acts. Because the sense can be sexual, plain pleasure is often the safer word in neutral prose.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of pleasure.

   Note

   Two uses share one spelling here: the participle inside a verb phrase (was pleasuring the room) and the gerund that works as a noun (delighted in pleasuring his guests). Most uses are transitive and take the person pleased as object. The older intransitive use, meaning to take or pursue pleasure, is now dated. The verb can also mean giving sexual pleasure, so the surrounding context has to keep an innocent reading innocent.

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