packing meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

packing

noun

UK /ˈpakɪŋ/ · US /ˈpækɪŋ/

Etymology From Middle English pakkynge; equivalent to pack (“verb and noun senses”) + -ing.

9 senses

› The action of the verb.

The action of putting things together, especially of putting clothes into a suitcase for a journey.

Mathematics, Sciences The spatial arrangement of objects, items or constituent parts.

The gathering of birds, animals etc. into a pack.

Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Rugby, Sports The forming of players into a scrum.

› As a concrete noun.

Material used to fill in the space around something, especially to make a piston etc. watertight or airtight.

A kind of fine Norwegian hay, used as packing in the finnesko to keep the feet warm and to make the fur boot fit firmly.1913, Captain R. F. Scott, Scott's Last Expedition Volume I:

Material used to wrap a product for sale etc.; packaging.

Among the inner packings in use are expanded polystyrene (popcorn), plastic-encapsulated air (air bubbles), various types of paper products, foam-in-place, molded polystyrene, and corrugated partitions (egg crating).2013, Eugene L. Magad, Total Materials Management, →ISBN, page 375:

A fee charged to cover the costs of packaging.

Special material used to fill containers or vessels for certain chemically related applications.

Packing in a packed bed, or a column such as a distillation column or a chromatography column

Abbreviation, Clipping Clipping of meatpacking.

Derived terms: body packing, contract packing, co-packing, court-packing, meatpacker, meatpacking, packing case, packing-case, packinghouse, packingless, packing list, packing needle, packing-needle, packing noodle, packing parka, packing peanut, packing plant, packing room, packing snow, packing tape, postage and packing, subpacking, underpacking, wolf packing
Related terms: backpacking, packer, packmaker, packmaking