seal

seal¹ S3 [si:l] n

[Sense: 1; Origin: Old English seolh]

[Sense: 2-6; Date: 1100-1200; : Old French; Origin: seel, from Latin sigillum, from signum; SIGN¹]

1.) a large sea animal that eats fish and lives around coasts

2.)

a) a mark that has a special design and shows the legal or official authority of a person or organization

▪ The document carried the seal of the governor's office.

b) the object that is used to make this mark

3.) a piece of rubber or plastic that keeps air, water, dirt etc out of something

airtight/watertight seal

▪ an airtight seal around the windows

4.) a piece of ↑wax, paper, wire etc that you have to break in order to open a container, document etc

5.) seal of approval

if you give something your seal of approval, you say that you approve of it, especially officially

▪ A number of employers have already given their seal of approval to the scheme.

6.) set the seal on sth

BrE to make something definite or complete

▪ In 1972, Nixon himself went to China to set the seal on the new relationship.

seal ²

seal² v [T]

1.) also seal up

to close an entrance or a container with something that stops air, water etc from coming in or out of it

▪ The window was sealed shut.

seal a joint/crack/opening/gap

▪ A quick way to seal awkward gaps is to use a foam filler.

▪ Dried milk is kept in hermetically sealed (=very tightly closed) containers.

2.) if a building, area, or country is sealed, no one can enter or leave it

▪ Authorities plan to seal the border.

3.) to close an envelope, package etc by using something sticky to hold its edges in place

▪ He wrote the address and sealed the envelope.

4.) to cover the surface of something with something that will protect it

▪ Wooden decks should be sealed to prevent cracking.

5.) seal sb's fate

to make something, especially something bad, sure to happen

▪ The outbreak of war sealed the government's fate.

6.) seal a deal/bargain/pact etc

to make an agreement more formal or definite

7.) seal a victory/win/match

to make a victory certain

▪ Smith's goal sealed the victory.

→sb's lips are sealed at ↑lip, all signed and sealed at ↑sign² (6)

seal in [seal sth<=>in] phr v

to stop something that is inside something else from getting out

▪ Fry the meat quickly to seal in the juices.

seal off [seal sth<=>off] phr v

to stop people from entering an area or building, because it is dangerous

▪ Following a bomb warning, police have sealed off the whole area.