reaching

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of reach.

   The toddler kept reaching toward the bright balloon.

   Reaching the summit took the climbers two full days.

   Note

   Two older endings meet in this form. Middle English had rechand beside reching, both from an Old English participle in -ende, and the -ing spelling won out. The verb can stand alone or take a direct object, as in reaching toward a balloon or reaching the summit. Despite the identical spelling, the noun for stretching out descends from a separate Old English word.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The action of stretching out toward something, especially in an attempt to grasp it.

   His reaching fell short, and the keys stayed on the high shelf.

   Therapists track an infant's reaching toward nearby objects as part of early motor development.

   Similarstretching

   Note

   A noun with its own ancestry: Old English already had rǣċing, meaning "reaching, extending," so it is not simply the verb's gerund pressed into service. It takes a plural, reachings, and sits comfortably after a possessive, as in an infant's reaching or his reaching. There it names the gesture itself, whether or not the hand arrives.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Sailing with the wind coming across the side of the boat, at a wider angle to the bow than when sailing close-hauled.

   The skipper called for reaching once the wind shifted to the beam.

   Hours of steady reaching carried the sloop along the rugged coastline.

   Note

   A point of sail taken from the noun reach: the wind comes over either side, freer than when close-hauled. Sailors subdivide it as the wind moves aft into close reaching, beam reaching and broad reaching. The word usually names an activity and takes no article, so a crew is reaching or logs hours of reaching, while the boat itself is on a reach.

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