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
G. Terry Madonna and Michael YoungExamples of packing in a Sentence
We finished all our packing yesterday.
I used some old newspapers for packing.
Recent Examples on the Web
Walk right past baggage claim on all your future trips with these versatile and smart packing essentials.
—Neha Tandon, People.com, 11 Jan. 2025
Packages with the logo of Amazon are transported at a packing station of a redistribution center of Amazon in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on Dec. 9, 2024.
—Annie Palmer, CNBC, 10 Jan. 2025
That meant packing for road trips the night before, rather than the day of.
—Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025
While many warehouses are only beginning to adopt robotics and automation, others with high levels of maturity leverage different models of robots to complete various jobs—from picking and packing, to taking stock of inventory, to helping with receiving incoming goods and more.
—Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for packing 
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Neha Tandon, People.com, 11 Jan. 2025
Packages with the logo of Amazon are transported at a packing station of a redistribution center of Amazon in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on Dec. 9, 2024.
—Annie Palmer, CNBC, 10 Jan. 2025
That meant packing for road trips the night before, rather than the day of.
—Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025
While many warehouses are only beginning to adopt robotics and automation, others with high levels of maturity leverage different models of robots to complete various jobs—from picking and packing, to taking stock of inventory, to helping with receiving incoming goods and more.
—Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for packing
Dictionary Entries Near packing
Cite this Entry
“Packing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/packing. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical 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
The Journal of the American Medical Association2
: the material used in packing
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