splashing

Pluralsplashings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of splash.

   Splashing through the flooded street, he soaked his shoes within seconds.

   The dog kept splashing in the shallow water near the dock.

   Note

   The -ing form carries the full range of splash, both literal and figurative. It works without an object (splashing through puddles) or with one (splashing water on her face). It also stretches to publicity (splashing the story across the front page) and to money (splashing cash on a new car). Wherever the verb goes, this form follows, in progressive tenses and as a verbal noun alike.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An action that scatters water or another liquid through the air, often noisily.

   The constant splashing from the fountain echoed across the quiet courtyard.

   Each splashing of the oars sent ripples across the still lake.

   Similarsloshing, spattering

   Note

   Here the gerund settles into a true noun, and you can tell because it can be counted: bathtime full of mischief and splashings. The plural suggests a string of separate bursts rather than one continuous activity. Unlike the verb form, it takes no direct object. Whatever it acts on follows of, as in the splashing of the oars.

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