seal

Topic: ANIMALS

Sense: 1

Origin:

Old English seolh

Sense: 2-6

Date:	1100-1200
Language:	Old French
Origin:	seel, from Latin sigillum, from signum; SIGN¹

seal
1 noun

seal1 S3 See pronunciation table in "How to use dictionary" pages

[countable]

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

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

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.

British English to make something definite or complete:

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

Definition of seal from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic ANIMALS