seal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A sea animal with smooth fur and flippers that lives partly in water and partly on land.

   The seals lay on the rocks in the warm sun.

2. 2
   verb

   To close something tightly so that nothing can get in or out.

   We sealed the envelope and dropped it in the postbox.

3. 3
   noun

   An official mark pressed into wax or paper to show that a document is genuine.

   The letter carried the king's royal seal.

4. 4
   verb

   To make something final and certain.

   Their handshake sealed the deal.

From Middle English sel, 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, Icelandic selur), 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).

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