▪ I. cooing, vbl. n.
(ˈkuːɪŋ)
[f. coo v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb coo.
1. lit.; see coo v. 1.
| 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. i. 701 The Dove Ceases her Cooing. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. v. (1858) 257 The..doves..still fill with their cooings the luxuriant gardens. |
2. transf.; see coo v. 2, 3.
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 1272 Let not the Cooings of the World allure thee. 1821 Byron Juan iii. viii, No one cares for matrimonial cooings. 1857 Trollope Three Clerks xx, You may as well give over your billing and cooing. |
▪ II. ˈcooing, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That coos.
| 1665 Howard & Dryden Ind. Queen iii. i, That murm'ring Noise that cooing Doves Use. 1832 Tennyson Miller's Dau. vi, I often heard the cooing dove In firry woodlands mourn alone. |
Hence ˈcooingly adv.
| 1818 Keats Endymion i. 248 Turtles Passion their voices cooingly 'mong myrtles. 1863 Cornh. Mag. VII. 735 Her mother kissed her cooingly as she would have kissed a baby. |