shipping

¹ American  

[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

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.

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shipping ² American  

[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

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.

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shipping British  

/ 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

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Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

• nonshipping adjective

Etymology

Origin of shipping¹

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

Origin of shipping¹

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

Example Sentences

These reactors—being built by Westinghouse, Babcock & Wilcox and others—are awaiting certification by various regulators for use in commercial shipping, among other industries.

From The Wall Street Journal

Hostilities across otherwise busy shipping lanes would disrupt essential trade Japan relies on.

From The Wall Street Journal

Now data centers are pulling cheap power and water out of the ground and shipping the value out of state in the form of bitcoin, cloud storage, AI training runs and corporate “efficiency.”

From Salon

Others fear that state-imposed rules could lead to downsizing farms and even shipping water away to Arizona’s fast-growing cities.

From Los Angeles Times

Ross: There is a lot of shipping that’s going on with this show.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• freight
• ship