packing

noun

pack·​ing ˈpa-kiŋ 

1

a

: the action or process of packing something

also : a method of packing

b

: the processing of food and especially meat for future sale

2

: material (such as a covering or stuffing) used to protect packed goods (as for shipping)

also : material used for making airtight or watertight

packing for a faucet

3

US politics : a form of gerrymandering in which election districts are drawn in such a way that voters likely to support the opposing party are concentrated into a single district to limit the influence of their votes in other districts

… it calculates the impact of the two mechanisms that create gerrymandering. The first of these is "packing," which means one side's votes have been overconcentrated so they win by huge margins in a small number of districts (creating a surplus of votes).

—G. Terry Madonna and Michael Young

compare cracking sense 2

Examples of packing in a Sentence

We finished all our packing yesterday.

I used some old newspapers for packing.

Recent Examples on the Web

Another season without a deep Playoff run could send DeBoer packing. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 30 July 2026

Howl’s needy nature led to one of Ly’s favorite videos, another captured in the spur of the moment during a hectic packing session. — Pat Mueller, USA Today, 29 July 2026

What looks like an unassuming duffel bag unzips to reveal a roomy 35-liter capacity, roughly the same amount of packing space as the average 20-inch spinner suitcase. — Julia Morlino, Travel + Leisure, 28 July 2026

That decision led to frenzied overnight packing and work to prepare the robots for the work that lay ahead. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 24 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing packing

• court packing
• packing crate
• packing peanuts
• packing them in
• send packing

Rhymes for packing

• backing
• blacking
• clacking
• cracking
• hacking
• jacking
• lacking
• racking
• sacking
• slacking
• smacking
• snacking

Medical Definition

packing

noun

pack·​ing ˈpak-iŋ 

1

: the therapeutic application of a pack

hemorrhage … could not be controlled by suture or packing

—The Journal of the American Medical Association

2

: the material used in packing