throng
noun
a multitude of people crowded or assembled together; crowd.
had been thronging
-
past perfect progressiveof throng.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.
Next day the Pope's body was carried into St. Peter's, where the weeping populace, which had been thronging St. Peter's Square, began filing past his bier.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thoughts like these more or less distinctly had been thronging his mind during the morning, and though the path out of his degradation was obscure and uncertain, it had seemed the only way of escape.
From A Knight of the Nineteenth Century by Roe, Edward Payson
Since sunrise they had been thronging thither from all sides, eager to secure places which might afford them a good view of the fight.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 342, April, 1844 by Various
