were fastening
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past progressiveof fasten.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
fastenverb (used with object)to attach firmly or securely in place; fix securely to something else.
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.
Soon, surgeons were fastening the disc of skull — newly notched to let the rerouted artery pass through — back into place with tiny mending plates, and closing her scalp with forty staples.
From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2018
Then she saw that they were fastening a strong metal ring to the top of it.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
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Children were in school; men were at work; and most of the women were fastening their corsets and getting ready to go see what tails or entrails the butcher might be giving away.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
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A pair-horse vehicle was drawn up there, and men were fastening portly dress baskets in the baggage carrier over the hind wheels.
From The Silent Barrier by Louis Tracy
There the birds were fastening the nest to the palm thatching about 20 feet up and nearly over the door.
From Birds from North Borneo University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Volume 17, No. 8, pp. 377-433, October 27, 1966 by Max C. Thompson