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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Something wrapped up or packaged; a package.
  2. n. A plot of land, usually a division of a larger area.
  3. n. A quantity of merchandise offered for sale.
  4. n. A group or company; a pack: "this youthful parcel of noble bachelors” ( Shakespeare).
  5. v. To divide into parts and distribute: parceled out the land to their three children.
  6. v. To make into a parcel; package.
  7. v. Nautical To wind protective strips of canvas around (rope).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A part, either taken separately or belonging to a whole. A share; a portion.
  2. n. A separable, separate, or distinct part or portion or section, as of land.
  3. n. A constituent or integral part: used frequently in the phrase part and parcel.
  4. n. A fragment; piece; bit.
  5. n. An item or particular; a detail.
  6. n. An indefinite number, quantity, or measure forming a group, mass, or lot: as, a parcel of fools; a parcel of rubbish.
  7. n. A number of things wrapped or otherwise put up together; a package, containing a number of articles or a single one; a small bundle.
  8. n. plural In law, that part of a deed or conveyance which describes the property conveyed, together with the boundaries thereof, in order to its easy identification.
  9. n. Same as parceling, 1.
  10. To divide into parts or portions: generally with out.
  11. To particularize; specify.
  12. To cover with strips of canvas; wrap with parceling.
  13. Partly; in part; partially; to some extent.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A package wrapped for shipment.
  2. n. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.
  3. n. A group of birds.
  4. n. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
  5. v. To wrap something up into the form of a package.
  6. v. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
  2. n. A part; a portion; a piece.
  3. n. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
  4. n. A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle; a package; a packet.
  5. v. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; -- often with out or into.
  6. v. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
  7. v. To make up into a parcel
  8. Part or half; in part; partially.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an extended area of land
  2. v. cover with strips of canvas
  3. n. the allotment of some amount by dividing something
  4. n. a collection of things wrapped or boxed together
  5. n. a wrapped container
  6. v. make into a wrapped container
  7. v. divide into parts

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Old French, portion, from Vulgar Latin *particella, diminutive of Latin particula, diminutive of pars, part-, part; see perə-2 in Indo-European roots.

Examples

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Comments

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  • seanahan It's weird, most Romance and Germanic languages uses a cognate of packet for this. It doesn't appear to be clearly broken down by language families though, this is probably an example of borrowing, especially given the context in which it is used. Oct 22, 2007

‘parcel’ has been looked up 1728 times, loved by 1 person, added to 18 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 10.