painting

Etymology

verb

1. present participle and gerund of paint

noun

1. (countable) An illustration or artwork done with the use of paint.
   The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings.
   There's something special about tidal estuaries, due to the abundance of wildlife and the ever-changing scenes as the water ebbs or rises. Throw in some moody skies and filtered sunlight, and the views can resemble a painting by Turner - only you don't have to go to the National Gallery to see this, it's brought to your seat on a train. December 2 2020, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 65
2. (uncountable) The action of applying paint to a surface.
   The outside of the old house would benefit from some painting.
3. (uncountable) The same activity as an art form.
   Some artists, like Michelangelo, excel in both painting and sculpture.
   The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had been handsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting. Having heard from her daughter that I might come to Shelkovka, she had hurriedly recalled two or three of my landscapes which she had seen in exhibitions in Moscow, and now asked what I meant to express by them. 1917, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Darling and Other Stories, Project Gutenberg, published 9 September 2004, page 71