packet

[pak-it]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR packet ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small group or package of anything: a packet of letters.

Also called packet boat, packet ship. a small vessel that carries mail, passengers, and goods regularly on a fixed route, especially on rivers or along coasts.

Cards. a part of a pack of cards after being cut.

Informal. a large amount of money.

Digital Technology. a relatively small unit of data sent over a network:Every email you send and web page you browse is transferred to and from your device in a series of packets.

British Slang.

a painful blow or beating.
misfortune or failure.

verb (used with object)

to bind up in a package or parcel.

Origin of packet

1520–30; < Middle French pacquet, equivalent to pacqu(er) to pack¹ + -et -et

Synonyms for packet

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR packet ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See package.

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

Related Words for packet

container, parcel, package, envelope, wrapper, bag, folder, carton, file, wrapping

Examples from the Web for packet

Contemporary Examples of packet

Reading The Bone Clocks is like working your way through a packet of Starbursts at one go.
David Mitchell’s ‘The Bone Clocks’ Is Fun But Mostly Empty Calories
William O’Connor
September 14, 2014
There were rumors along Broadway in the following week that Rothstein had lost a packet.
Portrait of the Consummate Con Man
John Lardner
May 17, 2014
His father was executed in 1942 by a German gendarme after attempting to smuggle a packet of saccharine into the Ghetto.
The Week in Death: Irving Milchberg, the Teenage Gunrunner of the Warsaw Ghetto
The Telegraph
March 1, 2014
Fold the bottom tip of dough up and press to seal into a packet.
Daniel Boulud Reveals His 4 Favorite Recipes From His New Cookbook
Daniel Boulud
October 15, 2013
Anatabloc has even proudly posted a photo of the governor holding a packet of the supplement on its Facebook page.
Virginia Republicans’ One-Two Punch of Financial Scandals
Caitlin Dickson
April 2, 2013

Historical Examples of packet

She thrust the packet into a side pocket and started to the garage with the coat.
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
We have just hoisted the nun-lady on board an English packet.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
You see me in the plight in which I came out of the packet within this half-hour.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
She picked up a packet of the chocolate and looked at the name of the maker.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
My father began to open his morning's packet of letters and newspapers.
Tales And Novels, Volume 9 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth

British Dictionary definitions for packet

packet

noun

a small or medium-sized container of cardboard, paper, etc, often together with its contentsa packet of biscuits Usual US and Canadian word: package, pack

a small package; parcel

Also called: packet boat a boat that transports mail, passengers, goods, etc, on a fixed short route

slang a large sum of moneyto cost a packet

computing a unit into which a larger piece of data is broken down for more efficient transmissionSee also packet switching

verb

(tr) to wrap up in a packet or as a packet

Word Origin for packet

C16: from Old French pacquet, from pacquer to pack, from Old Dutch pak a pack

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 packet

mid-15c., from Middle English pak "bundle" (see pack (n.)) + diminutive suffix -et; perhaps modeled on Anglo-French pacquet (Middle French pacquet), which ultimately is a diminutive of Middle Dutch pak. A packet boat (1640s) originally was one that carried mails. Packet-switching attested from 1971.