ger|und

ger|und «JEHR uhnd», noun.

1. English Grammar. a verb form ending in -ing and used as a noun. In “Watching him carefully was hard work,” watching is a gerund. See the usage note below.

2. Latin Grammar. a form of the verb occurring as a noun in all cases except the nominative. Abbr: ger.

╂[< Late Latin gerundium < Latin gerundum, gerund of gerere to bear]

Usage The English gerund ends in -ing. It has the same form as the present participle but differs in use. Gerund: »

“Running” a hotel appealed to him.

Participle: »

“Running” around the corner, he bumped into a cop.

A gerund may take an object (»

running a hotel

) or a complement (»

being a hero

) and it may serve in any of the functions of a noun: Subject: »

“Looking” for an apartment always fascinated her.

Object: »

He taught “dancing.”

Predicate noun: »

Seeing is “believing.”

Adjective use: »

a “fishing” boat (a boat for fishing, not a boat that fishes).

When not in one of these constructions a gerund is related to the rest of the sentence by a preposition: »

By “running,” I was able to catch the bus.