seal

seal

I

seal¹ S3 /siːl/ noun [countable]
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 something British English to make something definite or complete:
    In 1972, Nixon himself went to China to set the seal on the new relationship.

II

seal² verb [transitive]
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(5), ⇨ all signed and sealed at sign²(6)
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ close to stop being open, or to make something stop being open. You use close and shut especially about your eyes, your mouth, a door, a window, or a container: Can I close the window? | Her eyes slowly closed. | He closed the door gently, so as not to wake the children.
   ▪ shut to close something . Shut sometimes has a feeling of doing something quickly and firmly, whereas close sounds more careful: He shut the door with a loud bang. | Shut your eyes and go to sleep.
   ▪ slam to close a door or lid quickly and noisily, especially because you are angry: She left the room, slamming the door behind her.
   ▪ draw the curtains to close curtains by pulling them across a window: The curtains were still drawn at ten o'clock in the morning.
   ▪ put the lid on something to close a container by putting a lid onto it: Did you put the lid on the cookie jar?
   ▪ seal to close something so that no air or water can get in or out: In this experiment, the chamber must be completely sealed.
     
seal something ↔ in phrasal verb
  to stop something that is inside something else from getting out:
    Fry the meat quickly to seal in the juices.
seal something ↔ off phrasal verb
  to stop people from entering an area or building, because it is dangerous:
    Following a bomb warning, police have sealed off the whole area.