seal

• enPR: sēl, IPA^(key): /siːl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːl
• Homophones: SEAL, ceil, seel

 

From Middle English sele, from an inflectional form of Old English seolh, from Proto-West Germanic *selh, from Proto-Germanic *selhaz (compare Scots selch,selkie, North Frisian selich, Middle Dutch seel, zēle, Old High German selah, Danish sæl, Middle Low German sale), either from Proto-Indo-European *selk- (“to pull”) (compare dialectal English sullow (“plough”)) or from early Proto-Finnic *šülkeš (later *hülgeh, compare dialectal Finnish hylki, standard hylje, Estonian hüljes).

seal (plural seals)

2. A pinniped (Pinnipedia), particularly an earless seal (true seal) or eared seal.

   The seals in the harbor looked better than they smelled.

• See also Thesaurus:pinniped

• vent

• → Punjabi: ਸੀਲ (sīl)
• → Sotho: sili
• → Swahili: sili

seal (third-person singular simple present seals, present participle sealing, simple past and past participle sealed)

1. (intransitive) To hunt seals.

   They're organizing a protest against sealing.

• clapmatch
• dolphin
• sea lion
• selkie
• walrus

•   Pinniped on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

 

From Middle English sele, from Anglo-Norman sëel, from Latin sigillum, a diminutive of signum (“sign”).

Doublet of sigil and sigillum.

 

seal (plural seals)

2. A stamp used to impress a design on a soft substance such as wax.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 11”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     She [Nature] carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby
     Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

3. An impression of such stamp on wax, paper or other material used for sealing.
4. A design or insignia usually associated with an organization or an official role.

   The front of the podium bore the presidential seal.

   • 1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170:

     So the matter rested until the Cranbrook & Paddock Wood Company was incorporated on August 8, 1877, appropriately displaying a bunch of hops on its seal, for these had become the principal cash crop in the area.

5. Anything that secures or authenticates.
6. Something which will be visibly damaged if a covering or container is opened, and which may or may not bear an official design.

   The result was declared invalid, as the seal on the meter had been broken.

7. (figurative) Confirmation or approval, or an indication of this.

   Her clothes always had her mom's seal of approval.

8. Something designed to prevent liquids or gases from leaking through a joint.

   The canister is leaking. I think the main seal needs to be replaced.

9. A tight closure, secure against leakage.

   Close the lid tightly to get a good seal.

10. A chakra. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• → Scottish Gaelic: seula

seal (third-person singular simple present seals, present participle sealing, simple past and past participle sealed)

1. (transitive) To place a seal on (a document).
2. To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality.

   to seal weights and measures

   to seal silverware

3. (transitive) To fasten (something) so that it cannot be opened without visible damage.

   The cover is sealed. If anyone tries to open it, we'll know about it.

4. (transitive) To prevent people or vehicles from crossing (something).

   Synonyms: block, block off, close, close off, obstruct, seal off

   The border has been sealed until the fugitives are found.

5. (transitive) To close securely to prevent leakage.

   I've sealed the bottle to keep the contents fresh.

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Seal up your lips, and give no words but "mum".

6. (transitive) To place in a sealed container.

   Synonym: enclose

   I've sealed the documents in this envelope.

7. (transitive, chess) To place a notation of one's next move in a sealed envelope to be opened after an adjournment.

   After thinking for half an hour, the champion sealed his move.

8. (transitive) To guarantee.

   The last-minute goal sealed United’s win.

   seal one's destiny

   seal someone's fate

   seal the job

   • 2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 April 2019:

     England's first-half display contained much to admire but it was a sign of their wastefulness in front of goal that it took the injury-time intervention from Kane to seal victory.

9. To fix, as a piece of iron in a wall, with cement or plaster, etc.
   • 1898, The American Archaeologist, page 267:

     Sealed to this wall by their rims were cazuelas ( earthenware bowls).

   • 1971, Environmental Conservation, the Oil and Gas Industries, page 127:

     After testing is concluded and it has been determined that the drilled well is to be completed as a producing or fluid-injection well, or that operations are to be suspended, the final string of casing is placed in the well and sealed to the penetrated formation with cement.

   • 1974, Ruins Stabilization in the Southwestern United States, page 40:

     The PVC was then sealed to the plastered foundation with a 3-inch-wide band of PVC-to-concrete adhesive applied above the Thiokol.

   • 1974, Egyptian Journal of Physics - Volumes 5-6, page 2:

     The blowing device consists of a glass vessel with a hollow perforated cylinder sealed to its base, and two side tubes sealed at opposite ends of the vessel.

10. To close by means of a seal.

    to seal a drainpipe with water

    • 2008, Sandra Davison, R.G. Newton, Conservation and Restoration of Glass, page 301:

      When the silicone rubber has set the plaster pieces are replaced, followed by the lid, which is sealed to the mother-mould with plaster and bandage as previously described.

11. (Mormonism) To bind eternally as family members.
    • 2010, Christopher Kimball Bigelow, Jonathan Langford, The Latter-day Saint Family Encyclopedia, page 306:

      In temples of God, families are eternally sealed through this power. Couples who enter into the Covenant of Eternal Marriage are sealed together, meaning that their union on earth is also valid in the heavens, rather than ending at death. Children who are subsequently born to them or later sealed to them are theirs for eternity… In addition, temple sealings are performed by proxy for the dead, with spouses sealed to each other and children sealed to parents.

    • 1852, Howard Stansbury, An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah:

      If a man once married desires a second helpmate […] she is sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church.

    • 1870, Aaron Harrison Cragin, Execution of Laws in Utah, page 9:

      She can be sealed to this other man and still remain with her first husband; and the Mormons believe that all her children will belong to the man to whom she is sealed.

    • 2001, Richard W. Slatta, The Mythical West, page 197:

      Next, I was sealed to my fourteenth wife, Emeline Vaughn. In 1851, I was sealed to my fifteenth wife, Mary Lear Groves. In 1856, I was sealed to my sixteenth wife, Mary Ann Williams.

12. (Christianity) To form a sacred commitment.
    • 1836, John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened; Or, A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory. 1671, page 44:

      What was that office, or work, to which his Father sealed him? I answer, more generally, he was sealed to the whole work of mediation for us, thereby to recover and save all the elect, whom the Father had given him:

    • 1861, Joanna Southcott, Lavinia Elizabeth C. Jones, The scriptures of the holy Trinity, page 88:

      Perfectly so, I tell thee, of the sealed people who have come in through unbelief, pretending themselves to be children of the kingdom, that they are sealed to be heirs of the promise, but have come in as thieves and robbers.

    • 1866, Paul Baynes, An Entire Commentary Upon the Whole Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, page 81:

      Let us all strive to get ourselves sealed to redemption, seeing God doth seal those whom he will deliver in that great day; if we be not in this number, we shall not escape damnation.

    • 2015, Uchenna Mezue, Hidden In Plain Sight: A Study of the Revelation to John:

      Thus these representatives of humanity are first sealed to help with the final work of salvation.

13. (cooking, transitive) To fry (meat) at a high temperature to retain the juices.
    • 1993, Daran Little, Life and Times at the Rovers Return, page 113:

      Seal the meat and continue frying until nicely browned.

• stamp

•   Seal (device) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Middle English *selen (suggested by Middle English sele (“harness; hame”)), perhaps from Old English sǣlan (“to bind”).

seal (third-person singular simple present seals, present participle sealing, simple past and past participle sealed)

1. (dialectal) To tie up animals (especially cattle) in their stalls.

• ASLE, Ales, ELAS, Elsa, LAEs, LEAs, Sale, Salé, Sela, aels, ales, lase, leas, sale, sela

Superessive of see (“this, it”). Akin to Finnish siellä and Ingrian seel.

seal (not comparable)

1. there (indicating location: in or at that place)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

seal

1. adessive singular of siga (“pig”)

From Old Irish sel,^[1] from Proto-Celtic *swelos (“turn”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃal̪ˠ/, /ˈʃalˠ/

seal m (genitive singular seala, nominative plural sealanna)

1. turn (chance to use (something) shared in sequence with others)
2. spell, span (period of time)

• “seal”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “seal”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 625
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “seal”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

From Old Frisian sāl, from Proto-West Germanic *sadul.

seal n (plural sealen, diminutive sealtsje)

1. saddle

• “seal (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

From Old Frisian *sele, from Proto-West Germanic *sali.

seal c or n (plural sealen, diminutive sealtsje)

1. hall

• “seal (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011