cradling

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of cradle

   The woman was cradling the baby in the crook of her arm as she fed it.

plural cradlings

1. The act by which one cradles a child etc.

   About four thousand cradlings were observed among five mother-infant pairs during the first 15 weeks of each infant's life.

   1967, Stuart A. Altmann, Social communication among primates

2. The act of using a cradle (the tool).
3. The cutting of a cask into two pieces lengthwise, to enable it to pass a narrow place, the two parts being afterwards united and rehooped.
4. businessThe framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed.

   the ceiling of the circular part is deeply panelled, the main ribs forming the core for the cradling

   1853, Thomas Tredgold, Elementary Principles of Carpentry