protecting, ppl. a.
(prəʊˈtɛktɪŋ)
[f. protect v. + -ing2.]
a. That protects; preserving or shielding from harm or danger; extending patronage.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxi. iii, To thy wings protecting shade My self I carry will. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 194 Saint Denis (the Protecting Saint of the French). 1785 Daily Universal Reg. 1 Jan. 2/3 The Protecting Duties, so generally called for in Ireland. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 521 Say, whether there be any protecting law for the people. 1820 Ann. Reg. 73/2 The American timber being of an inferior quality to that from the Baltic, required a protecting duty. 1821 in Bischoff Woollen Manuf. (1842) II. 18 Lord Milton and Mr. Wortley both conceive, that a protecting duty of sixpence per lb. on the wool exported will be conceded to the manufacturers if required. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight vii. 96 Protecting glasses are not worn nearly so much as they should be. |
b. spec. in Chem., applied to a group introduced into a molecule in order to protect a feature of that molecule in a reaction. (Cf. protect v. 5 a.)
| 1947 Nature 12 Apr. 500/1 The use of another protecting unit easily removed by hydrolysis in combination with the carbobenzoxy method would considerably extend the use of the latter. 1952 L. J. Desha Org. Chem. (ed. 2) xiii. 246 Finally, the protecting acetyl group is removed by hydrolysis. 1968 I. L. Finar Org. Chem. (ed. 4) II. xiii. 584 This enamine can react with another amino-acid, and the protecting group is removed by mild bromination. |
Hence proˈtectingly adv.; proˈtectingness.
| 1828 Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 49 One of Blackie's hands is protectingly placed across her neck. 1869 Miss Mulock Woman's Kingd. II. 238 This little..child hovered about her handsome mother with a tender protectingness rather amusing. 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. III. 165 Edgar, drawing protectingly near her, as they turned a sharp corner. |