Webster's 1828 Dictionary
PREACHING
ppr. Proclaiming; publishing in discourse; inculcating.
PREACHING
n.The act of preaching; a public religious discourse.
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
PREACHING
PREACHING Preach "ing, n.
Defn: The act of delivering a religious discourse; the art of sermonizing; also, a sermon; a public religious discourse; serious, earnest advice. Milner. Preaching cross, a cross, sometimes surmounting a pulpit, erected out of doors to designate a preaching place. -- Preaching friars. See Dominican.
American Oxford Thesaurus
preaching
preaching noun I ain't got no use for your preaching: religious teaching, message, sermons; informal Bible-thumping. WORD LINKS homiletics the art of preaching or writing sermons Word Links sections supply words that are related to the headword but do not normally appear in a thesaurus because they are not actual synonyms.
Oxford Thesaurus
preaching
preaching noun large crowds came to hear his preaching: religious teaching, instruction, message; sermons, sermonizing, homilies, evangelism, homiletics; rare pulpitry, kerygma.
The Wordsmith Dictionary