seal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   fastener consisting of a resinous composition that is plastic when warm

   used for sealing documents and parcels and letters

2. 2
   noun

   a stamp affixed to a document (as to attest to its authenticity or to seal it)

   the warrant bore the sheriff's seal

3. 3
   noun

   the pelt or fur (especially the underfur) of a seal

   a coat of seal

4. 4
   verb

   decide irrevocably

   sealing dooms

5. 5
   verb

   close with or as if with a seal

   We sealed the invitations with hot wax.

6. 6
   verb

   affix a seal to

   seal the letter

7. 7
   noun

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

   The seals in the harbor looked better than they smelled.

8. 8
   verb

   To hunt seals.

   They're organizing a protest against sealing.

Etymology

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).