showering

Pluralshowerings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of shower.

   Sparks were showering from the grinder as he cut through the bolt.

   The coach kept showering praise on the team after their win.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here. It is the progressive participle in sparks were showering from the grinder, and the gerund, a verb working as a noun, in showering after practice. The spraying sense names what falls with with: showering the couple with rice. The generous sense can also put the gift first, with on: showering praise on a team. Keep it apart from the noun for what falls, which can be plural.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A quantity of something that comes down in the manner of a shower.

   A showering of petals drifted from the trees as the wind picked up.

   The collision sent a showering of glass across the road.

   Similarcascade, spray, scattering, hail, rain

   Note

   A noun that counts, so one source can send down several falls at once. Max Brand's John Ovington Returns (1918) has the faintly moving air shake a fountain "into light showerings of spray." The of-phrase names what comes down, and an adjective such as light gives the fall its size. The plural, showerings, is what separates it from the gerund of the verb.

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