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Pack   /pæk/   Listen
noun
Pack  n.  A pact. (Obs.)



Pack  n.  
1.
A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods.
2.
A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack; hence, a multitude; a burden. "A pack of sorrows." "A pack of blessings." Note: "In England, by a pack of meal is meant 280 lbs.; of wool, 240 lbs."
3.
A group or quantity of connected or similar things; as, a pack of lies; specifically:
(a)
A full set of playing cards; a deck; also, the assortment used in a particular game; as, a euchre pack.
(b)
A number of wolves, hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together; as, a wolf pack.
(c)
A number of persons associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang; as, a pack of thieves or knaves.
(d)
A shook of cask staves.
(e)
A bundle of sheet-iron plates for rolling simultaneously.
4.
A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.
5.
An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.
6.
A loose, lewd, or worthless person. See Baggage. (Obs.)
7.
(Med.) In hydropathic practice, a wrapping of blankets or sheets called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the condition of the blankets or sheets used, put about a patient to give him treatment; also, the fact or condition of being so treated.
8.
(Rugby Football) The forwards who compose one half of the scrummage; also, the scrummage.
Pack animal, an animal, as a horse, mule, etc., employed in carrying packs.
Pack and prime road or Pack and prime way, a pack road or bridle way.
Pack cloth, a coarse cloth, often duck, used in covering packs or bales.
Pack horse. See Pack animal (above).
Pack ice. See def. 4, above.
Pack moth (Zool.), a small moth (Anacampsis sarcitella) which, in the larval state, is very destructive to wool and woolen fabrics.
Pack needle, a needle for sewing with pack thread.
Pack saddle, a saddle made for supporting the load on a pack animal.
Pack staff, a staff for supporting a pack; a peddler's staff.
Pack train (Mil.), a troop of pack animals.



verb
Pack  v. t.  (past & past part. packed; pres. part. packing)  
1.
To make a pack of; to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack; to press into close order or narrow compass; as, to pack goods in a box; to pack fish. "Strange materials packed up with wonderful art." "Where... the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed."
2.
To fill in the manner of a pack, that is, compactly and securely, as for transportation; hence, to fill closely or to repletion; to stow away within; to cause to be full; to crowd into; as, to pack a trunk; the play, or the audience, packs the theater.
3.
To shuffle, sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly; to stack (3) (the deck). "And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown."
4.
Hence: To bring together or make up unfairly and fraudulently, in order to secure a certain result; to stack (3); as, to pack a jury or a caucus. "The expected council was dwindling into... a packed assembly of Italian bishops."
5.
To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot. (Obs.) " He lost life... upon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies."
6.
To load with a pack; hence, to load; to encumber; as, to pack a horse. "Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey."
7.
To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; esp., to send away peremptorily or suddenly; to send packing; sometimes with off; as, to pack a boy off to school. "He... must not die Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven."
8.
To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. e., on the backs of men or beasts). (Western U.S.)
9.
(Hydropathy) To envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings. See Pack, n., 5.
10.
(Mech.) To render impervious, as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without giving passage to air, water, or steam; as, to pack a joint; to pack the piston of a steam engine.
11.
To cover, envelop, or protect tightly with something; specif. (Hydropathy), To envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings.



Pack  v. i.  
1.
To make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.
2.
To admit of stowage, or of making up for transportation or storage; to become compressed or to settle together, so as to form a compact mass; as, the goods pack conveniently; wet snow packs well.
3.
To gather in flocks or schools; as, the grouse or the perch begin to pack. (Eng.)
4.
To depart in haste; generally with off or away. "Poor Stella must pack off to town" "You shall pack, And never more darken my doors again."
5.
To unite in bad measures; to confederate for ill purposes; to join in collusion. (Obs.) "Go pack with him."
To send packing, to drive away; to send off roughly or in disgrace; to dismiss unceremoniously. "The parliament... presently sent him packing."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Pack" Quotes from Famous Books



... that switch. He had felt as though an invisible ocean had been poured on him, weighting him down intolerably. To move arms or legs required enormous effort; and to get up on his feet again was like rising under a two-hundred-pound pack. ...
— The Red Hell of Jupiter • Paul Ernst

... not going to eat any luncheon, Peter," she said, "I must trouble you to help me to wash up and pack the basket. The fire is out and the water is cold, but it can't be helped. The picnic ...
— Peter's Mother • Mrs. Henry De La Pasture

... they would have a hard fight with the remaining wolves, but evidently the pack had had enough of the encounter, for those that were wounded limped off growling savagely and the others followed, leaving the dead ...
— Young Hunters of the Lake • Ralph Bonehill

... coverlets on the beds, on which were painted nets, men in ambush with hunting-poles, and whatever appertained to hunting: Nor could we yet tell what to make of it: when we heard a great cry without, and a pack of beagles came and ran round the table, and after them a large trey, on which was a boar of the first magnitude, with a cap on his head, (such as slaves at their making free, had set on theirs in token of liberties) on his tusks hung two wicker baskets, the one full of ...
— The Satyricon • Petronius Arbiter

... of a thing for a man to pack," the giant bully cried nastily, "and it's a hell of a lady that gives it ...
— The Ramblin' Kid • Earl Wayland Bowman


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