packet
[pak-it]
- 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.
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- to bind up in a package or parcel.
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Origin of packet
Synonyms
See more synonyms for packet on Thesaurus.com1. See package.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for packet
Contemporary Examples
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 CaloriesWilliam O’Connor
September 14, 2014
There were rumors along Broadway in the following week that Rothstein had lost a packet.
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 GhettoThe Telegraph
March 1, 2014
Fold the bottom tip of dough up and press to seal into a packet.
Anatabloc has even proudly posted a photo of the governor holding a packet of the supplement on its Facebook page.
Historical Examples
She thrust the packet into a side pocket and started to the garage with the coat.
Her Father's DaughterGene 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 DorritCharles Dickens
She picked up a packet of the chocolate and looked at the name of the maker.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
My father began to open his morning's packet of letters and newspapers.
Tales And Novels, Volume 9 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
packet
- 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
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- (tr) to wrap up in a packet or as a packet
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Word Origin
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
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper