pack them in

Idioms

Attract a large audience, as in A big star will always pack them in. This idiom alludes to tightly filling a hall. [c. 1940]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Plug-in hair straighteners and curling irons don’t have any flight restrictions so you’re free to pack them in your carry-on or check-in luggage.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 25, 2025

The risks feel pretty real for me right now though, so I think overall it's probably better for me to just pack them in.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2024

Birds and bigger fish eat them, fisheries scoop them out of the ocean with giant nets and pack them in cans or even, in some cases, just grind them up.

From Slate • Feb. 4, 2024

They travel thousands of miles on land to reach the Libyan shores where traffickers pack them in unseaworthy boats to Europe.

From Washington Times • Jun. 19, 2023

I poled my skiff from float to float, fishing out the soft crabs and taking them to the crab house to pack them in boxes filled with eelgrass for shipping.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023