Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

bundle

[buhn-dl]
noun
  1. several objects or a quantity of material gathered or bound together: a bundle of hay.
  2. an item, group, or quantity wrapped for carrying; package.
  3. a number of things considered together: a bundle of ideas.
  4. Slang. a great deal of money: He made a bundle in the market.
  5. Botany. an aggregation of strands of specialized conductive and mechanical tissues.
  6. 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.
  7. Anatomy, Zoology. an aggregation of fibers, as of nerves or muscles.
Show More
verb (used with object), bun·dled, bun·dling.
  1. to tie together or wrap in a bundle: Bundle the newspapers for the trash man.
  2. to send away hurriedly or unceremoniously (usually followed by off, out, etc.): They bundled her off to the country.
  3. to offer or supply (related products or services) in a single transaction at one all-inclusive price.
Show More
verb (used without object), bun·dled, bun·dling.
  1. to leave hurriedly or unceremoniously (usually followed by off, out, etc.): They indignantly bundled out of the meeting.
  2. (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.
Show More
Verb Phrases
  1. bundle up, to dress warmly or snugly: A blizzard was raging but the children were all bundled up.
Show More
Idioms
  1. drop one's bundle, Australian and New Zealand Slang. to lose confidence or hope.
Show More

Origin of bundle

1350–1400; Middle English bundel < Middle Dutch bundel, bondel; akin to bind
Related formsbun·dler, noun

Synonyms

2. parcel, pack, packet.

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. 2018

Related Words

boxassortmentclusterparcelpackagebalewadcratebatchpacketbagpileheapbuncharraycartonclumpstackquantitypallet

Examples from the Web for bundling

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Bundling himself in the blankets, Lantier muttered about how stubborn women were.

    L'Assommoir

    Emile Zola

  • Gathering, bundling, crating, and shipping are all to be watched carefully.

    Agriculture for Beginners

    Charles William Burkett

  • He says that they are a Greek custom and he connects them with bundling.

    Folkways

    William Graham Sumner

  • “Come along,” he replied, ungraciously, bundling her into a cab.

    The Cricket

    Marjorie Cooke

  • They're bundling us out of the room, but where to is more than I can guess.

British Dictionary definitions for bundling

bundle

noun
  1. a number of things or a quantity of material gathered or loosely bound togethera bundle of sticks Related adjective: fascicular
  2. something wrapped or tied for carrying; package
  3. slang a large sum of money
  4. go a bundle on slang to be extremely fond of
  5. biology a collection of strands of specialized tissue such as nerve fibres
  6. botany short for vascular bundle
  7. textiles a measure of yarn or cloth; 60 000 yards of linen yarn; 5 or 10 pounds of cotton hanks
  8. drop one's bundle
    1. Australian and NZ slangto panic or give up hope
    2. NZ slangto give birth
Show More
verb
  1. (tr often foll by up) to make into a bundle
  2. (foll by out, off, into etc) to go or cause to go, esp roughly or unceremoniouslywe bundled him out of the house
  3. (tr usually foll by into) to push or throw, esp quickly and untidilyto bundle shirts into a drawer
  4. (tr) to sell (computer hardware and software) as one indivisible package
  5. (tr) to give away (a relatively cheap product) when selling an expensive one to attract businessseveral free CDs are often bundled with music centres
  6. (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
Show More
Derived Formsbundler, noun

Word Origin

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

n.

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]
Show More

bundle

n.

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.

Show More

bundle

v.

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.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bundling in Medicine

bundle

(bŭn′dl)
n.
  1. A structure composed of a group of fibers, such as a fasciculus.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Idioms and Phrases with bundling

bundle

In addition to the idiom beginning with bundle

  • bundle of nerves

also see:

  • make a bundle
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.