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.

Multiword verbs with seal

• seal off Phrasal verb B2

  to close an area or opening so that nothing can pass through

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Seal has two unrelated origins. The word for an impressed mark or device dates from Middle English and goes back to Latin sigillum “small picture,” from signum “a sign.” Its related uses reflect the former practice of stamping a personal seal in wax and the use of seals to show that something had not been opened or disturbed. The animal name comes from Old English seolh, which is also the source of selkie or silkie.

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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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary