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Used to form nouns or noun-like words (or elements of noun phrases) from verbs, denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action.
In the first and third phrases the words in bold are nouns, while in the second phrase the word in bold is a gerund and the noun is act, cognate with action.
There was formerly a tendency for the final vowel of a word to contract when this suffix was added; hence carrying/ˈkæɹ(j)ɪŋ/, /ˈkæɹ(j)ɪn/, following/ˈfɒlwɪŋ/, /ˈfɒlwɪn/, but analogy has usually now resulted in restoration of the full form (e.g. /ˈkæɹi.ɪŋ/, /ˈfɒloʊ.ɪn/).
The same kind of analogy has resulted in pronunciations of bottling such as /ˈbɒtəlɪŋ/, /ˈbɒtəlɪn/ (for earlier /ˈbɒtlɪŋ/, /ˈbɒtlɪn/).
a.2001, Brian Hall, “Beej's Guide to Network Programming”, “Using Internet Sockets”
If you are connect()ing to a remote machineyou can simply call connect(), it'll check to see if the socket is unworthy, and will bind() it to an unused local port if necessary.
(productive,colloquial,humorous)Used to form verbal nouns which jocularly imply that something is a sport, trend, or fashionable concept.
Extremsparing ― extreme saving: saving money as a sport
Cloud-Abwasching ― cloud dish washing: dish washing following the cloud principle
2001, Ulrich Busse, Typen von Anglizismen, in: Gerhard von Stickel (ed.), Neues und Fremdes im deutschen Wortschatz, De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, p. 131-155
Typen von Anglizismen: von der heilago geist bis Extremsparing – aufgezeigt anhand ausgewählter lexikographischer Kategorisierungen.
Types of anglicisms: from der heilago geist to extreme saving – illustrated by means of selected lexicographic categorisations.
Beim Cloud-Abwasching wird das schmutzige Geschirr einfach ausgelagert, damit es keinen Speicherplatz in der Spüle wegnimmt und jeder darauf zugreifen kann, der die Lizenz zum Abwasch hat.
In cloud dish washing, the dirty crockery is simply swapped out, so it doesn’t take up any memory in the kitchen sink and everybody who has a wash-up licence can access it.
Usage notes
Productive use is chiefly restricted to ad-hoc formations (such as the two examples above).
Carl Friedrich Müller, Zur Sprache Fritz Reuters: ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der mecklenburgischen Mundart, Leipzig: Max Hesse Verlag, 1902, pp. 41-2, 47.
Forms gerunds from verbs, typically referring to the process of performing the verb, but also referring to the effect of the verb, what the verb affects, the capability or permission of performing the verb, or that which performs the verb.
Forms collective nouns from verbs meaning "to utilise (a given thing)".
The gender is usually m or f (in Bokmål) if the word ended in -ing in Old Norse and m if it ended in -ingr or -ingi. Living things like islending(“Icelander”) and dumming(“idiot”) are usually m whilst inanimate things like stråling(“radiation”) and eting(“the act of eating”) usually are m or f.
Most terms suffixed with -ing are borrowed directly from English, but some are not (e.g., footing (pseudo-anglicism), puenting, edredoning).
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
(rarely productive)added to a noun stem, causing i-mutation (if applicable), forming a noun denoting an inhabitant or original of a particular place, a descendant of a person, etc.; -er, -ite. See also -ling.