shipping

¹

[ship-ing]

noun

1. the act or business of a person or thing that ships.

2. a number of ships, especially merchant ships, taken as a whole; tonnage.

3. Obsolete.,  a voyage.

shipping

²

[ship-ing]

noun

Slang.

1. the act or practice of discussing, writing about, or hoping for a romantic relationship between fictional characters, as in fan fiction, or between famous people, whether or not the romance actually exists in the book, show, etc., or in real life.

   the shipping of TV characters;

   shipping in webcomics.

shipping

/ ˈʃɪpɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. the business of transporting freight, esp by ship

   2. ( as modifier )

      a shipping magnate

      shipping line

2. 1. ships collectively

      there is a lot of shipping in the Channel

   2. the tonnage of a number of ships

      shipping for this year exceeded that of last

Other Word Forms

• nonshipping adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shipping¹

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; ship ¹, -ing ¹

Origin of shipping²

First recorded in 1990–95; (relation)ship + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Huge shipping fortunes emerged, creating demand for banks and insurers.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The deal begins with the MI450 chips that AMD expects to start shipping in the second half of next year.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The Reliance spokesperson said that the idea that Indian refiners had benefited excessively from discounted Russian oil was misplaced and didn’t take into account the higher costs associated with shipping that oil.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Then there’s a place in Frogtown called Wax Paper, and it’s basically in a shipping container on a corner of the street.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Republican members of Congress hate it; they signed up for “America First,” not shipping bucketloads of free money to s**thole countries thousands of miles away.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• freight 
• ship 

When To Use

What else does shipping mean?

Shipping is the act of wanting two or more fictional characters or celebrities to end up in a relationship, usually romantic.