pouring

Pluralpourings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of pour.

   He stood at the counter, pouring coffee for the guests.

   Pouring the batter slowly keeps it from forming lumps.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After be it builds the progressive (she was pouring the tea), and on its own it heads a noun phrase (pouring takes patience). Two everyday uses need no object at all. It's pouring means it is raining hard, with the impersonal it, and in a bar, what's pouring tonight asks which drinks are on tap.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of making something, especially a liquid, flow out of a container in a steady stream.

   A steady pouring of the batter gave the cake an even top.

   The careful pouring of molten metal into the mold demands precision.

   Note

   The noun can be counted, and in the plural it can mean servings. Liberal pourings of rum and Coke are generous rounds at a party, not one long stream. That countability is what separates the noun from the verb's -ing form. You can admire a careful pouring of molten metal or tally several pourings, but the verbal pouring takes neither the article a nor a plural.

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