Participle

(par'te-sipl.) [From L. part i ceps, sharing.] (Gram.) A word so named because, in certain languages, it participates in the nature both of a noun and a verb; being variable through the genders, numbers, and cases, like the former, and regarding time, action, ., like the latter. P. sometimes lose the properties of a verb, and become adjectives; as, it is a thing of amazing absurdity; she is a woman of noted beauty. In English there are two P.- the present and past; the former ending in ing, the latter in en, ed, d, or t. [s. 687]