adoption, seal off (up), push the envelope, back-of-the-envelope calculation

Russia Calls for Halt on U.S. Adoptions
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
The proposal was in response to a scandal over a boy who was sent back to Moscow by his adoptive mother in Tennessee.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that Hillary Clinton has a 96% chance of winning the White House

Donald Trump’s slimming odds of victory

Polls from past presidential elections do not bode well for Mr Trump

ECONOMIST.COM

“We’ll see increased user adoption,” said Linus Upson, an engineering director at Google. “And we’ll always have a release that pushes the envelope on new features.”


Many analysts and industry insiders say HTC has turned them into believers. “HTC has been pushing the innovation envelope for quite a long time,” said Jeffrey K. Belk, a former senior vice president for strategy at the cellphone chip maker Qualcomm. “It is only now that people are starting to get know to them better.”



The Democrats are preparing for a lengthy nomination fight, while John McCain is hoping to seal up the Republican nomination quickly.

Back-of-the-envelope calculation - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-of-the-envelope_calculation

A back-of-the-envelope calculation is a rough calculation, typically jotted down on any available scrap of paper such as the actual back of an envelope. It is more ...

push the envelope

Exceed the limits of what is normally done, be innovative, as in They are pushing the envelope in using only new fabrics for winter clothing. This idiom comes from aviation, the envelope alluding to the technical limits of a plane's performance, which, on a graph, appear as a rising slope as limits of speed and stress are approached and falls off when the capacity is exceeded and the pilot loses control; safety lies within these limits, or envelope, and exceeding them exposes pilot and plane to risk. [Slang; late 1960s]




seal
3 to close a letter or parcel by sticking the edges together:
Seal the package (up) with sticky tape.
He sealed (down) the envelope and put a stamp on it.

Also, seal up.
Close tightly or barricade to prevent entry or exit. For example, We're sealing off the unused wing of the building, or The jar is tightly sealed up.
Dating from the first half of the 1900s, this idiom uses seal in the sense of "close securely," as one used to do with a seal of wax.

seal sth off
phrasal verb [M]
to prevent people from entering an area or building, often because it is dangerous:
Two more bombs have been discovered since the police sealed off the area.


ADOPTIVE
adj.

1. 1. Of or having to do with adoption.
   2. Characteristic of adoption.
2. Related by adoption: "increased honesty and sharing between birth families, adoptive families and adoptees" (Robyn S. Quinter). See Usage Note at adopt.

adoptively a·dop'tive·ly adv.