curl
verb (used with object)
to form into coils or ringlets, as the hair.
had been curling
-
past perfect progressiveof curl.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.
So it really had two, but had been curling up one of them quite out of sight.
From The Nursery, October 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 4 by Various
But a few yards from her seat an Italian had been curling his black mustache for quite an extraordinary length of time, staring all the while at the little blonde girl on the fountain steps.
From The Ranch Girls in Europe by Margaret Vandercook
He knocked the white ashes out of his pipe—it had been curling in brave wreaths to the very ceiling two minutes before—and sat musing.
From John Halifax, Gentleman by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
