Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

(-dl?ng)

Noun.

The act of using a cradle.

(Coopering)

Cutting a cask into two pieces lengthwise, to enable it to pass a narrow place, the two parts being afterward united and rehooped.

(Carp.)

The framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed.

Knight.

ppr.

Laying or rocking in a cradle; cutting and laying with a cradle, as grain.

cradling

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

cradling ‎(plural cradlings)

The act by which one cradles a child etc.
- 1967, Stuart A. Altmann, Social communication among primates
  About four thousand cradlings were observed among five mother-infant pairs during the first 15 weeks of each infant's life.
The act of using a cradle (the tool).
(coopering) 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.
(carpentry) The framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)