sealing

Pluralsealings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of seal.

   The crew is sealing the hull to stop the leak.

   Sealing the documents required a witness and an official stamp.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. In "the crew are sealing the hull" it is a participle, and in "sealing the documents required a witness" it acts as a noun. Most uses take an object, such as sealing a letter, a crate or a road. When it stands alone without an object, it usually means hunting seals, the verb behind the seal-hunting noun.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act or process of sealing something, in any sense of that verb: closing, fastening, or stamping it.

   The sealing of the legal papers was witnessed by two officials.

   Proper sealing of the concrete surface protects it from moisture.

   Similarclosure, closing, waterproofing

   Oppositeopening

3. 3
   adjective

   Designed for closing something securely; serving to keep contents in or air and moisture out.

   A worn sealing gasket allowed coolant to escape from the engine.

   The technician applied a sealing compound around the pipe fitting.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   The hunting of seals, the marine mammals.

   Generations of his family had made their living from sealing in the Arctic.

   Bad weather cut the sealing season short that year.

   Note

   A separate word altogether. It is built on seal the animal, not seal the stamp or closure, so it shares only its spelling with the act of closing or stamping. It names a trade and is uncountable: people make a living from sealing, and they speak of the sealing season. Context almost always shows which word is meant.

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