bundle

[ buhn-dl ]

/ ˈbʌn dl /

|||

noun

several objects or a quantity of material gathered or bound together: a bundle of hay.

an item, group, or quantity wrapped for carrying; package.

a number of things considered together: a bundle of ideas.

Slang. a great deal of money: He made a bundle in the market.

Botany. an aggregation of strands of specialized conductive and mechanical tissues.

Also called bundle of isoglosses. Dialect Geography. a group of close isoglosses running in approximately the same direction, especially when taken as evidence of an important dialect division.

Anatomy, Zoology. an aggregation of fibers, as of nerves or muscles.

verb (used with object), bun·dled, bun·dling.

to tie together or wrap in a bundle: Bundle the newspapers for the trash man.

to send away hurriedly or unceremoniously (usually followed by off, out, etc.): They bundled her off to the country.

to offer or supply (related products or services) in a single transaction at one all-inclusive price.

verb (used without object), bun·dled, bun·dling.

to leave hurriedly or unceremoniously (usually followed by off, out, etc.): They indignantly bundled out of the meeting.

(especially of sweethearts during courtship in early New England) to lie in the same bed while fully clothed, as for privacy and warmth in a house where an entire family shared one room with a fireplace.

Verb Phrases

bundle up, to dress warmly or snugly: A blizzard was raging but the children were all bundled up.

Nearby words

Idioms

drop one's bundle, Australian and New Zealand Slang. to lose confidence or hope.

Origin of bundle

1350–1400; Middle English bundel < Middle Dutch bundel, bondel; akin to bind

SYNONYMS FOR bundle

2 parcel, pack, packet.

Related formsbun·dler, noun

Synonym study

1. Bundle, bunch refer to a number of things or an amount of something fastened or bound together. Bundle implies a close binding or grouping together, and often refers to a wrapped package: a bundle of laundry, of dry goods. A bunch is a number of things, usually all of the same kind, fastened together: a bunch of roses, of keys.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bundling

The adviser fears that moving the prisoners east means “they are thinking of bundling them across the border into Iraq.”
Where Is Al Qaeda Holding Its Western Hostages In Syria?|Jamie Dettmer|January 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Barack Obama and John McCain also proved adept at developing a bundling system.
Mitt Romney Should Disclose Big Campaign Donors|Peter Schweizer|April 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We soon began to see women and girls at work in the fields, digging potatoes alone, or bundling up the grain which the men cut.
Excursions and Poems|Henry David Thoreau
Bundling them all in a bunch, she proffered them to Conan, who handed them to the astonished Devi.
The People of the Black Circle|Robert E. Howard

There is a great outcry just now about the paper on bundling which was in the last Yankee.
Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and Decline in America|Henry Reed Stiles
He says that they are a Greek custom and he connects them with bundling.
Folkways|William Graham Sumner
Bundling the sufferers below as gently as the exigency permitted, the boats were cleared and swung out ready for launching.
In the Track of the Trades|Lewis R. Freeman

British Dictionary definitions for bundling

bundle

/ (ˈbʌndəl) /

noun

a number of things or a quantity of material gathered or loosely bound togethera bundle of sticks Related adjective: fascicular

something wrapped or tied for carrying; package

slang a large sum of money

go a bundle on slang to be extremely fond of

biology a collection of strands of specialized tissue such as nerve fibres

botany short for vascular bundle

textiles a measure of yarn or cloth; 60 000 yards of linen yarn; 5 or 10 pounds of cotton hanks

drop one's bundle

Australian and NZ slang to panic or give up hope
NZ slang to give birth

verb

(tr often foll by up) to make into a bundle

(foll by out, off, into etc) to go or cause to go, esp roughly or unceremoniouslywe bundled him out of the house

(tr usually foll by into) to push or throw, esp quickly and untidilyto bundle shirts into a drawer

(tr) to sell (computer hardware and software) as one indivisible package

(tr) to give away (a relatively cheap product) when selling an expensive one to attract businessseveral free CDs are often bundled with music centres

(intr) to sleep or lie in one's clothes on the same bed as one's betrothed: formerly a custom in New England, Wales, and elsewhere

Derived Formsbundler, noun

Word Origin for bundle

C14: probably from Middle Dutch bundel; related to Old English bindele bandage; see bind, bond

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bundling (1 of 3)

bundling

1640s, "a gathering into a bundle," verbal noun from bundle (v.). Meaning "sharing a bed for the night, fully dressed, wrapped up with someone of the opposite sex" (1782) is a former local custom in New England (especially Connecticut and southeastern Massachusetts). It was noted there from about 1750s and often regarded by outsiders as grossly immoral, but New Englanders wrote defenses of it and claimed it was practiced elsewhere, too. It seems to have died out with the 18th century.

I am no advocate for temptation; yet must say, that bundling has prevailed 160 years in New England, and, I verily believe, with ten times more chastity than the sitting on a sofa. I had daughters, and speak from near forty years' experience. Bundling takes place only in cold seasons of the year--the sofa in summer is more dangerous than the bed in winter. [The Rev. Samuel Peters, "A general history of Connecticut," 1782]

Word Origin and History for bundling (1 of 3)

bundle

early 14c., "bound collection of things," from Middle Dutch bondel, diminutive of bond, from binden "to bind," or perhaps a merger of this word and Old English byndele "binding," from Proto-Germanic *bundilin (cf. German bündel "to bundle"), from PIE root *bhendh- "tie" (see bend (v.)). Meaning "a lot of money" is from 1899. To be a bundle of nerves "very anxious" is from 1938.

Word Origin and History for bundling (2 of 3)

bundle

1620s, "to make into a bundle," from bundle (n.); meaning "to wrap up in warm heavy clothes" is from 1893. Meaning "to sleep with another, clothed, in the same bed," a noted former custom in New England, is from 1781. Meaning "to send away hurriedly" is from 1823. Related: Bundled; bundling.

Medicine definitions for bundling

bundle

[ bŭn′dl ]

n.

A structure composed of a group of fibers, such as a fasciculus.

Idioms and Phrases with bundling

bundle

In addition to the idiom beginning with bundle

bundle of nerves

also see:

make a bundle

bundle

noun

verb (used with object), bun·dled, bun·dling.

verb (used without object), bun·dled, bun·dling.

Verb Phrases

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Idioms

Origin of bundle

Synonym study

Examples from the Web for bundling

British Dictionary definitions for bundling

bundle

noun

verb

Word Origin for bundle

Word Origin and History for bundling (1 of 3)

bundling

Word Origin and History for bundling (1 of 3)

bundle

Word Origin and History for bundling (2 of 3)

bundle

Medicine definitions for bundling

bundle

n.

Idioms and Phrases with bundling

bundle