Definition of "seal"

She [Nature] carved thee for her seal, and meant therebyThou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 11”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley

So the matter rested until the Cranbrook & Paddock Wood Company was incorporated on August 8, 1877, appropriately displaying a bunch of hops on its seal, for these had become the principal cash crop in the area.

1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170

Seal up your lips, and give no words but "mum".

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

England's first-half display contained much to admire but it was a sign of their wastefulness in front of goal that it took the injury-time intervention from Kane to seal victory.

2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 21 April 2019

Sealed to this wall by their rims were cazuelas ( earthenware bowls).

1898, The American Archaeologist, page 267

After testing is concluded and it has been determined that the drilled well is to be completed as a producing or fluid-injection well, or that operations are to be suspended, the final string of casing is placed in the well and sealed to the penetrated formation with cement.

1971, Environmental Conservation, the Oil and Gas Industries, page 127

The PVC was then sealed to the plastered foundation with a 3-inch-wide band of PVC-to-concrete adhesive applied above the Thiokol.

1974, Ruins Stabilization in the Southwestern United States, page 40

The blowing device consists of a glass vessel with a hollow perforated cylinder sealed to its base, and two side tubes sealed at opposite ends of the vessel.

1974, Egyptian Journal of Physics - Volumes 5-6, page 2

When the silicone rubber has set the plaster pieces are replaced, followed by the lid, which is sealed to the mother-mould with plaster and bandage as previously described.

2008, Sandra Davison, R.G. Newton, Conservation and Restoration of Glass, page 301

In temples of God, families are eternally sealed through this power. Couples who enter into the Covenant of Eternal Marriage are sealed together, meaning that their union on earth is also valid in the heavens, rather than ending at death. Children who are subsequently born to them or later sealed to them are theirs for eternity… In addition, temple sealings are performed by proxy for the dead, with spouses sealed to each other and children sealed to parents.

2010, Christopher Kimball Bigelow, Jonathan Langford, The Latter-day Saint Family Encyclopedia, page 306

If a man once married desires a second helpmate […] she is sealed to him under the solemn sanction of the church.

1852, Howard Stansbury, An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah

She can be sealed to this other man and still remain with her first husband; and the Mormons believe that all her children will belong to the man to whom she is sealed.

1870, Aaron Harrison Cragin, Execution of Laws in Utah, page 9

Next, I was sealed to my fourteenth wife, Emeline Vaughn. In 1851, I was sealed to my fifteenth wife, Mary Lear Groves. In 1856, I was sealed to my sixteenth wife, Mary Ann Williams.

2001, Richard W. Slatta, The Mythical West, page 197

What was that office, or work, to which his Father sealed him? I answer, more generally, he was sealed to the whole work of mediation for us, thereby to recover and save all the elect, whom the Father had given him:

1836, John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened; Or, A Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory. 1671, page 44

Perfectly so, I tell thee, of the sealed people who have come in through unbelief, pretending themselves to be children of the kingdom, that they are sealed to be heirs of the promise, but have come in as thieves and robbers.

1861, Joanna Southcott, Lavinia Elizabeth C. Jones, The scriptures of the holy Trinity, page 88

Let us all strive to get ourselves sealed to redemption, seeing God doth seal those whom he will deliver in that great day; if we be not in this number, we shall not escape damnation.

1866, Paul Baynes, An Entire Commentary Upon the Whole Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, page 81

Thus these representatives of humanity are first sealed to help with the final work of salvation.

2015, Uchenna Mezue, Hidden In Plain Sight: A Study of the Revelation to John

Seal the meat and continue frying until nicely browned.

1993, Daran Little, Life and Times at the Rovers Return, page 113