aging

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The process of growing old or maturing.
2. n. An artificial process for imparting the characteristics and properties of age.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Any process for imparting the characteristics and properties of age: as, the aging of wines and liquors by heat and agitation.
2. n. In calicoprinting and dyeing, the process of fixing the soluble mordant or dye by exposing the cloth in well-ventilated chambers to air which is kept warm and moist, for a time sufficient to allow the mordant or dye laid upon the surface of the cloth to penetrate the fibers and become firmly attached to them. Any superfluous portions, or those which may remain soluble, are removed by dunging
3. n. .—3. In ceramics, the storage of prepared clay, to allow it time to ferment and ripen before using. E. H. Knight. The clay is kept wet, and is often mixed and tempered; and the process sometimes lasts for many years.
4. n. Also spelled ageing.
5. n. In the preparation of logwood for dyeing, the process of exposing the wood (usually in the form of chips) to the air, in order that the hematoxylin it, contains may be oxidized or developed into hematein, the actual coloring agent. Also known as curing or maturing.
6. n. In electricity, the property, exhibited more or less by iron, of showing an increase of hysteresis loss when for a long time exposed to alternating magnetization, especially at a higher temperature.

Wiktionary

1. v. present participle of age.
2. n. intransitive The process of becoming older or more mature.
3. n. transitive Allowing something to become older.
4. n. transitive The deliberate act of making something (such as an antique) appear older than it is.
5. n. gerontology Becoming senescent; accumulating damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time
6. n. euphemistic Elderly person. Only as a collective plural in "the aging"
7. adj. Becoming elderly.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. the process by which objects or materials acquire desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time under specific conditions. It is used mostly for foods snd beverages, but also for other materials.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age
2. adj. growing old
3. n. acquiring desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time