popping

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of pop.

   Bubbles kept popping on the surface of the simmering soup.

   She spent the afternoon popping sheet after sheet of bubble wrap.

   Note

   One spelling carries every use of pop: bubbles popping, someone popping out for a quick visit, or, in British and Australian usage, popping something into place. As a gerund it can take an object (popping bubble wrap), which the noun for the sound cannot. That noun takes a plural instead: poppings. The form also works as an adjective, with "more popping" and "most popping," in line with pop's sense of standing out.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act or short, sharp sound of something bursting or breaking open suddenly.

   The steady popping of the campfire kept everyone awake.

   A series of popping noises came from the overheating engine.

   Similarcrackling, cracking, snapping, banging

   Note

   It works both as a mass noun for a running sound (the popping of a fire) and as a count noun for separate small events. Ernest Eckford Tucker's Osteopathic Technique (1917) notes "poppings at various points along the spine," each pop a distinct sign a practitioner might register. Use the plural when individual pops matter; use the mass noun for a continuous crackle.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A style of funk dance that uses rapid tensing and relaxing of the muscles to jerk the body and shift between poses.

   He won the battle with his clean popping and well-timed hits.

   The dancer combined popping with locking throughout her routine.

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