seal
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: sēl
ipa: /siːl/
rhymes: -iːl
homophone: SEAL
homophone: ceil
homophone: seel
homophone: Cel
Forms: form: seals
form: sealing
form: sealed
form: sealed
Etymology: From Middle English sele, from Anglo-Norman seel, from Latin sigillum, a diminutive of signum (“sign”).
Doublet of sigil and sigillum.
Senses: glosses: To place a seal on (a document).
examples: text: to seal weights and measures
text: to seal silverware
glosses: To mark with a stamp, as an evidence of standard exactness, legal size, or merchantable quality.
examples: text: The cover is sealed. If anyone tries to open it, we'll know about it.
glosses: To fasten (something) so that it cannot be opened without visible damage.
examples: text: The border has been sealed until the fugitives are found.
synonyms: block
block off
close
close off
obstruct
seal off
glosses: To prevent people or vehicles from crossing (something).
examples: text: I've sealed the bottle to keep the contents fresh.
text: Seal up your lips, and give no words but "mum".
ref: 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]:
glosses: To close securely to prevent leakage.
examples: text: I've sealed the documents in this envelope.
synonyms: enclose
glosses: To place in a sealed container.
examples: text: After thinking for half an hour, the champion sealed his move.
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: To place a notation of one's next move in a sealed envelope to be opened after an adjournment.
examples: text: The last-minute goal sealed United’s win.
text: seal one's destiny
text: seal someone's fate
text: seal the job
text: 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.
ref: 2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2019:
glosses: To guarantee.
examples: text: Sealed to this wall by their rims were cazuelas ( earthenware bowls).
ref: 1898, The American Archaeologist, page 267:
text: 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.
ref: 1971, Environmental Conservation, the Oil and Gas Industries, page 127:
text: The PVC was then sealed to the plastered foundation with a 3-inch-wide band of PVC-to-concrete adhesive applied above the Thiokol.
ref: 1974, Ruins Stabilization in the Southwestern United States, page 40:
text: 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.
ref: 1974, Egyptian Journal of Physics - Volumes 5-6, page 2:
glosses: To fix, as a piece of iron in a wall, with cement or plaster, etc.
examples: text: to seal a drainpipe with water
text: 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.
ref: 2008, Sandra Davison, R.G. Newton, Conservation and Restoration of Glass, page 301:
glosses: To close by means of a seal.
examples: text: If a man once married desires a second helpmate […] she is sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church.
ref: 1852, Howard Stansbury, An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah:
text: 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.
ref: 1870, Aaron Harrison Cragin, Execution of Laws in Utah, page 9:
text: 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.
ref: 2001, Richard W. Slatta, The Mythical West, page 197:
text: 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.
ref: 2010, Christopher Kimball Bigelow, Jonathan Langford, The Latter-day Saint Family Encyclopedia, page 306:
glosses: To bind eternally as family members.
examples: text: 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:
ref: 1836, John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened; Or, A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory. 1671, page 44:
text: 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.
ref: 1861, Joanna Southcott, Lavinia Elizabeth C. Jones, The scriptures of the holy Trinity, page 88:
text: 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.
ref: 1866, Paul Baynes, An Entire Commentary Upon the Whole Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, page 81:
text: Thus these representatives of humanity are first sealed to help with the final work of salvation.
ref: 2015, Uchenna Mezue, Hidden In Plain Sight: A Study of the Revelation to John:
topics: Christianity
glosses: To form a sacred commitment.
examples: text: Seal the meat and continue frying until nicely browned.
ref: 1993, Daran Little, Life and Times at the Rovers Return, page 113:
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: To fry (meat) at a high temperature to retain the juices.
Derived terms: box-sealing tape
counter-seal
counterseal
heat-seal
hermetically seal
peel-and-seal
reseal
sealable
sealant
sealed
sealer
seal in
sealing
sealing washer
seal off
seal someone's fate
seal the deal
seal under
seal up
underseal
Related terms: stamp