packing

noun

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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 Not surprisingly, West Hartford and other adjacent towns sent Mr. Bronin packing. — Bob Stefanowski, WSJ, "What Isn’t the Matter With Hartford?," 1 Jan. 2021 Democratic candidates' positions on court-packing became a critical issue before the Nov. 3 elections after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the elevation of Amy Coney Barrett to the country's highest bench. — Naomi Lim, Washington Examiner, "Five takeaways from the Kelly Loeffler-Raphael Warnock Georgia Senate debate," 7 Dec. 2020 Seven of those players had been sent packing by the start of the 2020 season. — Pat Brennan, The Enquirer, "Takeaways: Looking back on FC Cincinnati's 2020 MLS soccer season," 11 Nov. 2020 Joe Biden appears to be channelling a similar mind-set in stopping short of endorsing court-packing. — Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, "What the Democrats Achieve By Threatening to Pack the Supreme Court," 28 Oct. 2020 As other coaches look to avoid becoming the next figure sent packing, more changes behind center could be coming for several struggling offenses. — Usa Today Sports, USA TODAY, "NFL Week 7 roundtable: Which quarterbacks most need to turn things around?," 25 Oct. 2020 On this week's episode of The Masked Singer, the orange giant was sent packing, and he was revealed to be actor — and onetime rapper — Brian Austin Green. — Lauren Huff, EW.com, "The Masked Singer's Giraffe dunks on Robin Thicke for not guessing his identity: 'He's terrible'," 8 Oct. 2020 While Coughlin was sent packing, the Jaguars held on to Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell for no apparent reason. — Paul Newberry, Star Tribune, "Column: Jags might be worst franchise in all of pro sports," 1 Sep. 2020 Poor people who are, per Olympic tradition, evicted and sent packing into a difficult new life. — Bill Donahue, Washington Post, "For the Olympics, poor communities in host cities are regularly displaced. For the Rio 2016 games, one village’s resistance sparked a global question: Should they be abolished?," 6 July 2020

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.