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

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

From 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.

From Salon

The loss of that water resource has knock-on effects for all those who rely on glaciers - for irrigation, drinking, hydropower and even shipping traffic.

From BBC

"These contracts work this way for all shipping companies."

From BBC

The man told authorities he and his crew left at midnight to avoid complications with shipping lanes.

From Los Angeles Times

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.