seizing

seizing

English

Etymology

From seize +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsizɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːzɪŋ

Verb

seizing

1. present participle of seize

Noun

seizing (countable and uncountable, plural seizings)

1. The act of grabbing or taking possession.
2. (chiefly in the plural) Something seized.

   The pirates buried their seizings and marked the map with an X.

3. A type of lashing or binding by a small cord.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 36”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:

     Cut your seizings and draw the poles, ye harpooneers!”
     Silently obeying the order, the three harpooneers now stood with the detached iron part of their harpoons, some three feet long, held, barbs up, before him.

   1. Such lashing used to temporarily immobilize the ends of a rope to prevent a knot from slipping or collapsing.

Adjective

seizing (comparative more seizing, superlative most seizing)

1. That seizes the attention; impressive.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 45:

     It is a world of seizing visual beauty, of shimmering whites and yellows that shift to glowing apricot, pink and violet with the sinking of the saturant sun.