parcel

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English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

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).

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

parcel (plural parcels)

  1. A package wrapped for shipment.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Lisson Grove Mystery[1]:
      “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what [...] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […]”
    I saw a brown paper parcel on my doorstep.
  2. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
  3. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.
    I own a small parcel of land between the refinery and the fish cannery.
  4. (obsolete) A group of birds.
  5. A group of people.
    • Herman Melville, Omoo
      A parcel of giddy creatures of her own age.
  6. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.

Synonyms [edit]

  • (package wrapped for shipment): package
  • (division of land bought and sold as a unit): plot

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

See also [edit]

Verb [edit]

parcel (third-person singular simple present parcels, present participle parceling or parcelling, simple past and past participle parceled or parcelled)

  1. To wrap something up into the form of a package.
  2. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.
    Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.

Translations [edit]

Adverb [edit]

parcel (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      The worthy dame was parcel-blind.
    • Tennyson
      One that [] was parcel-bearded.

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Anagrams [edit]