Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Something wrapped up or packaged; a package.
- n. A plot of land, usually a division of a larger area.
- n. A quantity of merchandise offered for sale.
- n. A group or company; a pack: "this youthful parcel of noble bachelors” ( Shakespeare).
- v. To divide into parts and distribute: parceled out the land to their three children.
- v. To make into a parcel; package.
- v. Nautical To wind protective strips of canvas around (rope).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A part, either taken separately or belonging to a whole. A share; a portion.
- n. A separable, separate, or distinct part or portion or section, as of land.
- n. A constituent or integral part: used frequently in the phrase part and parcel.
- n. A fragment; piece; bit.
- n. An item or particular; a detail.
- n. An indefinite number, quantity, or measure forming a group, mass, or lot: as, a parcel of fools; a parcel of rubbish.
- 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.
- 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.
- n. Same as parceling, 1.
- To divide into parts or portions: generally with out.
- To particularize; specify.
- To cover with strips of canvas; wrap with parceling.
- Partly; in part; partially; to some extent.
Wiktionary
- n. A package wrapped for shipment.
- n. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
- n. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.
- n. obsolete A group of birds.
- n. A group of people.
- n. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
- v. To wrap something up into the form of package.
- v. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Archaic A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
- n. (Law) A part; a portion; a piece.
- n. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
- n. A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle; a package; a packet.
- v. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; -- often with out or into.
- v. rare To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
- v. To make up into a parcel
- Sometimes hyphened with the word following., Sometimes hyphened with the word following. Part or half; in part; partially.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an extended area of land
- v. cover with strips of canvas
- n. the allotment of some amount by dividing something
- n. a collection of things wrapped or boxed together
- n. a wrapped container
- v. make into a wrapped container
- v. divide into parts
Etymologies
- From Old French parcelle ("a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle"), from Medieval Latin particella, contr. parcella ("a parcel"), dim. of Latin particula ("particle"), diminutive of pars ("part, piece"). (Wiktionary)
- 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. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Pass the parcel is a good way of getting them all to sit down for a bit …”
“This parcel is a right treasure trove - lots of little bits of fabric in various materials - some hand-dyed cotton, some velvet, some sheer stuff, some silk and just other stuff.”
“That "parcel" is right next to a parcel of our own and I think about how easy it would be for Monsieur Blanc, who loves to garden, to expand his project south ... then we all could enjoy the fruits of his labor!”
“The repiggie voluminous “solutions” parcel is probably a lot like a Philadelphia bankroll.”
Think Progress » A guide to debunking Republican talking points at the health care summit.
“Army, signed a document transferring the last parcel from the Army to the U.S.”
The Huffington Post: Rocky Mountain Arsenal Now Officially A Wildlife Refuge
“We had a bag of mail come about March, I had a couple of letters from my sisters and a parcel from a friend.”
“Two weeks later we had a parcel from the British Red Cross.”
“Part in parcel with that movement was the revival of the conical form of the chasuble and fuller forms of the dalmatic and tunicle; something which was particularly seen (though not exclusively seen) within the monastic context of the Liturgical Movement.”
Vestments in a Style of the Monastic Element of the 20th Century Liturgical Movement
“For those who keep score, the annual lease for the 42. 2-acre parcel is $3.66 million, or nearly triple the $1.3 million the top Google execs pay each year to land two Boeing 767s and at least two Gulfstream Vs at Moffett Field.”
Google Plans Major Expansion in Its Backyard - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
“Writer Cherie Priest, author of Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Wings to the Kingdom, Dreadful Skin and Not Flesh Nor Feathers, received this bizarre note from the postal service that seems to be reassuring her that the barbecue sauce on her parcel is not a weapon of mass destruction.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘parcel’.
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Containers
Stuff that holds other stuff.
cardboard box, jar, filing cabinet, safe deposit box, cupboard, wardrobe, jewel case, briefcase, locker, canopic jar, chest of drawers, paper sack and 208 more...
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phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pustule, purulence, pushful, purser, purpureal, putative, purpure, purpresture, purloin, purline, purlieu, purlicue and 1766 more...
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avfordomd's list
lexicon
copacetic, amiable, philanthropic, misanthropic, gregarious, vehement, parcel, congregate, paucity, passel, multitudinous, pulchritudinous and 98 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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P is for Porch Dog
My P Words
paddington, paddy wagon, paddy whack, paddywhack, paisano, pandemonium, pantaloon, pantaloons, paper tiger, papoose, parachute pants, parcel and 109 more...
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Words I like
This is a list of my favourite words (phrases) in english, as a second language. I love them mostly because of how they sound and their meaning.
ninja, cookie, skill, zip, plentiful, digg, debris, pancake, cucumber, fetch, pot, backpack and 461 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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let's get it on
words i should learn to integrate into my vocabulary!
perspicacious, parcel, imminent, milieu, pantomimical, pyrric
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tomax's Words
legerdemain, yayo, extravasation, wont, faze, coxswain, concomitant, enclave, unguent, rhabdomyolysis, effluent, puerile and 432 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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AGRI - types of agricultural land
arable land, grassland, peat land, peat soil, permanent pasture, plot, parcel, set-aside land, unused agricultur...
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The Motherland! (God Bless the Queen)
Words that remind me of England, which I miss very much.
snog, nappy, wanker, telly, knickers, crumpet, pants, bum, loo, bollocks, stroppy, whinge and 108 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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useful vocab
pysmatic, relentless, storge, preamble, oscillate, itinerary, frolic, frolicsome, abdicate, frolicking, divergent, abnegate and 312 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for parcel.

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