bruising

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of bruise

comparative more bruising · superlative most bruising

1. That bruises.
2. Wearisome, arduous.

   Instead England produced something that felt a little transgressive in this most controlled of stages, tightening their grip in a bruising first half, before freewheeling downhill in the second with their feet up on the handlebars.

   2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian

plural bruisings

1. slangA violent physical attack on a person.

   You'd better shut up or you'll get a bruising.

2. Bruises on a person's skin.

   Of the nine staff in the third coach, most had been having a break, drinking tea or reading. One suffered a fractured skull, another a fractured shoulder. All were either thrown along or across the coach, sustaining cuts, bruising and whiplash injuries.

   2026 March 18, Greg Morse, “1996 crash driving freight reforms”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 50

   1 more example

   […] on October 29, 1888, the Russian imperial train was derailed at Borki by defective track, and twenty-one persons were killed. Although these did not include the Emperor Alexander III, who escaped with a bruising, a footman serving coffee to him at the critical moment, and his dog, which was lying on the floor beside him, were both killed on the spot.

   1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, pages 251–252