seasoning

Etymology 1

From season + -ing.

noun

1. (cooking) Something used to add taste or flavour to food, such as salt and pepper or other condiment, herb or spice.
2. (figurative, by extension) Anything added to increase enjoyment.
3. A coat of polymerized oil inside a cooking vessel which renders the surface non-stick.
4. (archaic) An alcoholic intoxication.
   Some of our gentlemen officers, happening to stop at a tavern, or rather a sort of grogshop, took such a seasoning that two or three of them became “quite frisky.”
5. In diamond-cutting, the charging of the laps or wheels with diamond dust and oil.

Etymology 2

From Middle English seasonyng, present participle of Middle English sesounen (“to season”), equivalent to season + -ing.

verb

1. present participle and gerund of season