noun
churning
noun
1
The act of stirring or agitating something vigorously, especially cream or milk to make butter.
"The churning of the cream took almost an hour by hand."
"She could hear the steady churning of the washing machine next door."
2
The batch of butter produced from one round of churning.
"That churning yielded almost two pounds of fresh butter."
How to Use Churning
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe action of mixing or shaking something around and around, or the batch of butter that comes out of doing that to cream.
Memory tip
Outside of dairy-making, "churning" is often used figuratively for anything moving turbulently, like churning seas or a churning stomach.
Common pairings
a churning stomach
churning waves
the churning of butter
Word Forms
churnings plural
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The _____ of the cream took almost an hour by hand.