spraying

Pluralsprayings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of spray.

   Firefighters were spraying water on the roof to keep the flames from spreading.

   The truck pulled out fast, its tires spraying gravel across the driveway.

   Note

   The -ing form keeps every pattern of spray. It can take the liquid as its object, as in spraying water, or let the liquid be the subject, as in water spraying from a pipe. It also has narrower lives: a cat spraying to mark territory, an attacker spraying a heap in a software exploit, a player spraying a long pass across the field. The noun for the act shares the spelling.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of applying a liquid or other substance as a spray, or a single round of it.

   Regular spraying of the orchard keeps the fungus under control.

   The city ordered an extra spraying of the marsh after mosquito counts rose.

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