snoring

Pluralsnorings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The harsh, snorting sound of breathing during sleep, caused by vibration of the soft palate.

   Loud snoring is often a warning sign of a blocked airway.

   The sleep clinic recorded his snoring throughout the night for analysis.

   Note

   A noun that can be counted as well as massed. Most often it names the noise in general (his snoring woke the neighbors), but it also takes a plural for separate bouts or sounds. E. E. Cummings has a man brandishing a revolver answered by "peaceful snorings," where the plural suggests several sleepers replying at once. In everyday prose the singular is the safer, more usual choice.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of snore.

   She fell asleep snoring softly within a few minutes.

   Grandpa was snoring so heavily that the windows seemed to rattle.

   Note

   The verb form behind progressive tenses (she was snoring) and behind gerunds that keep their verb habits. To tell the gerund from the noun for the sound, look at what modifies it. The gerund takes adverbs (snoring loudly kept him awake), while the noun takes adjectives and a plural (his loud snoring). Because snore can take an object as well as stand alone, so can the participle.

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