smiling

Pluralsmilings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of smile.

   He was smiling as he opened the unexpected gift.

   Smiling warmly, she welcomed each guest at the door.

   Note

   The verb form has the same spelling as the adjective and the noun, so the construction tells you which one you have. After be it is progressive (they were smiling at the children). It can also take an object, as in smiling her thanks. It keeps the verb's other uses as well: fortune smiling on a plan, or an ackee fruit opening fully to show it is safe to pick.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having a smile on the face, or naturally tending to show one as a sign of pleasure.

   The smiling waiter handed us our menus and recommended the special.

   Crowds of smiling fans greeted the team as the bus pulled in.

   Similarbeaming, cheerful, cheery, happy, radiant

   Oppositeglum, sullen

   Note

   Here the word works as a true adjective, not a verb form caught mid-action. It compares with more and most (a more smiling face, the most smiling of hosts). Emerson Hough's The Purchase Price (1910) places it beside serene and enigmatic, where it describes a settled manner. Try very or more in front of it: if the phrase still works, you have the adjective, not the verb form.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act or process of forming a smile, as an expression of pleasure or friendliness.

   His easy smiling put the nervous patients at ease.

   Smiling can lift the mood of an entire room within seconds.

   Similargrinning, beaming

   Oppositefrowning, scowling

   Note

   The noun usually names the activity in general, as in Smiling takes fewer muscles than frowning, but it can also be counted. The plural smilings appears in devotional prose. Harriet Catharine Grew's Memorials of a Young Christian (1837) speaks of enjoying "the smilings of his face," where the smiles of God's face stand for warmth and favor rather than single expressions.

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