churn
noun
a container or machine in which cream or milk is agitated to make butter.
had been churning
-
past perfect progressiveof churn.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
McCrory’s statement seemed designed to calm waters that his fellow-Republicans had been churning.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 13, 2016
With that came the collapse of a building industry that had been churning out so many new homes it created a shortage of cranes for construction in other parts of the US.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 20, 2016
The foundation turned out to be the creation of one public relations man, Charles Richman, who had been churning out the list, to occasional hoopla, for several decades.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2015
And indeed, Speedi had been churning out maps and other data hourly since the first hours after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
From New York Times ● Aug. 9, 2011
They had been churning for nearly two hours.
From When Life Was Young At the Old Farm in Maine by C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens
