packing

American  

[pak-ing] / ˈpæk ɪŋ /

noun

• packings
  plural

1. the act or work of a person or thing that packs.

2. the preparation and packaging of foodstuffs, especially to be sold at wholesale.

3. the way in which something is packed.

4. an act or instance of transporting supplies, goods, etc., on the backs of horses, mules, or persons.

5. material used to cushion or protect goods packed in a container.

6. material, often in the form of a grease-impregnated fibrous ring, compressed inside a stuffing box or the like to prevent leakage around the moving shaft of an engine, pump, or valve.

7. Printing. rubber, paper, or other material fastened to the tympan or cylinder of a press to provide pressure to produce a printed impression.

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packing British  

/ ˈpækɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. material used to cushion packed goods

   2. ( as modifier )

      a packing needle

2. the packaging of foodstuffs

3. med

   1. the application of a medical pack

   2. gauze or other absorbent material for packing a wound

4. printing sheets of material, esp paper, used to cover the platen or impression cylinder of a letterpress machine

5. any substance or material used to make watertight or gastight joints, esp in a stuffing box

6. engineering pieces of material of various thicknesses used to adjust the position of a component or machine before it is secured in its correct position or alignment

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Usage

What is packing? Packing is the act of grouping items into a container, especially for storing or moving the items. Packing can also describe the container or wrapping itself used to pack items. Example: The packing on this Christmas gift is too hard to get off!

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• underpacking
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• packings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of packing

1350–1400; Middle English pakking (gerund). See pack ¹, -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

packing packings

Longtime folks like Sens. Gary Peters, Dick Durbin, and more are packing it in.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026

I covered myself in bits of cardboard, packing tape and foam peanuts and overdid my makeup with several coats of mascara and thick black eyeliner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Recently, driving through the city of Frostproof, where he grew up, Rucks pointed toward the railroad tracks, once lined with citrus packing houses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

He was back on the streets between March and July 2018, packing up his tent each night and moving from pitch to pitch.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

“Your timing is perfect, Miss Lawton. I was just having Nell assist me with the packing for tomorrow. Mr. Pinkerton is not one for waiting around. Especially not on this mission.”

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

In 1773 physicist and mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange found that the arrangement along a triangular lattice is optimal—so long as you only consider ordered packings.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 6, 2023

In geometry, he made key discoveries in the study of symmetries, sphere packings, lattices, polyhedra and tilings, including properties of quasi-periodic tilings as developed by Roger Penrose.

From Nature ● May 22, 2020

His archives contain all sorts of investigations of possible packings and their properties, together with actual cardboard polyhedra, still ready to assemble:

From Scientific American ● Oct. 25, 2017

After making physical models of tetrahedrons and demonstrating the packing patterns, she convinced Dr. Lagarias that her packings were as dense as she had said they were, and finally published her findings a year ago.

From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2010

Another application from the missile field, which shows real possibilities, is a reliable flow meter that has no packings or bearings.

From The Practical Values of Space Exploration Report of the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Eighty-Sixth Congress, Second Session by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science and Astronautics.

Related Words

• Styrofoam