piercing

verb
/ˈpɪɹsɪŋ/US/ˈpɪəsɪŋ/UK

Etymology

From pierce + -ing.

  1. derived from pertūsus
  2. derived from *pertūsiō
  3. derived from percier
  4. inherited from perce
  5. suffixed as piercing — “pierce + ing

Definitions

  1. present participle and gerund of pierce

  2. gerund of pierce

  3. A hole made in the body so that jewellery can be worn through it.

    • ear piercing
  4. + 4 more definitions
    1. An item of jewellery designed to be fitted through a piercing (noun sense 2).

    2. Appearing to look deeply into

      Appearing to look deeply into; penetrating.

      • piercing eyes
    3. Of temperature, extremely cold so that it penetrates through clothing and shelter.

    4. Of sound, loud and sharp

      Of sound, loud and sharp; shrill.

      • The piercing noise of the children could be heard two blocks from the elementary school.
      • In the meantime the saw was stopped and two of the men began filing and sharpening the blades, which produced such a piercing sound that it went through bone and marrow.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at piercing. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01piercing02hole03excavation04distinction05discrimination06acute07shrill

A definitional loop anchored at piercing. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at piercing

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA