packing

noun

pack·ing | \ ˈpa-kiŋ

Definition of packing

1a : 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

The choice for each side isn’t between court-packing and the status quo. — Matt Ford, The New Republic, "A Better Way to Fix the Supreme Court," 4 June 2019 All-in-ones When trying to prevent over-packing, multi-tasking products are a must. — Cara Kelly, USA TODAY, "Packing the ultimate weekender: Our favorite products for your carry-on or beach bag," 9 July 2018 The court has swung from left to right and back again throughout its history, of course, and other presidents tried to muscle their way to friendly majorities, most infamously President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s failed court-packing scheme in 1937. — Peter Baker, New York Times, "A Conservative Court Push Decades in the Making, With Effects for Decades to Come," 9 July 2018 The two-hour interactive course, offered for free, included a lecture by Tarver and Adams, as well as hands-on tourniquet and wound-packing practice. — Elizabeth Myong, Houston Chronicle, "Mass shootings prompt survival training event in Houston," 10 June 2018 To the rescue: These savvy packing tips from Good Housekeeping Institute experts. — Nicole Saporita, Good Housekeeping, "14 Genius Packing Tips to Help You Travel Like a Pro," 9 Apr. 2019 Willow Lindley, Accessories Editor The best morning, noon, and night cover up (which means easy packing!). — Madeline Fass, Vogue, "15 Fresh Ideas for Covering Up at the Beach This Summer," 3 Aug. 2018 Of the 15,395 employees, some 64 percent were expected to be high school graduates or above who would be machine operators and workers who handled assembly, product testing and packing, the memo said. — Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Foxconn will need thousands of workers with entry-level skills and a high school diploma," 4 May 2018 The friend said packing, storage, cleaning and the return of her home’s contents would run about $20,000. — star-telegram, "13 in 2013: Tiny West battles pain, controversy as it rebuilds after blast | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 28 Dec. 2013

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'packing.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.