| a verb form consisting of an auxiliary be in the past tense followed by a present participle and used esp. to indicate that an action or event was incomplete or in progress at a point of reference in the past, as was sleeping in I was sleeping when the phone rang. |
| past progressive | |
noun | |
| a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past; "'I had been running' is an example of the past progressive" |