1. A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ Cf. Peck, n. ] A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack; hence, a multitude; a burden. “A pack of sorrows.” “A pack of blessings.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ “In England, by a pack of meal is meant 280 lbs.; of wool, 240 lbs.” McElrath. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A group or quantity of connected or similar things; as, a pack of lies; specifically: (a) A full set of playing cards; a deck; also, the assortment used in a particular game; as, a euchre pack. (b) A number of wolves, hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together; as, a wolf pack. (c) A number of persons associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang; as, a pack of thieves or knaves. (d) A shook of cask staves. (e) A bundle of sheet-iron plates for rolling simultaneously. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely. Kane. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. [ Prob. the same word; but cf. AS. p&aemacr_;can to deceive. ] A loose, lewd, or worthless person. See Baggage. [ Obs. ] Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Med.) In hydropathic practice, a wrapping of blankets or sheets called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the condition of the blankets or sheets used, put about a patient to give him treatment; also, the fact or condition of being so treated. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

8. (Rugby Football) The forwards who compose one half of the scrummage; also, the scrummage. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Pack animal, an animal, as a horse, mule, etc., employed in carrying packs. --
Pack and prime road or
Pack and prime way, a pack road or bridle way. --
Pack cloth, a coarse cloth, often duck, used in covering packs or bales. --
Pack horse. See Pack animal (above). --
Pack ice. See def. 4, above. --
Pack moth (Zool.), a small moth (Anacampsis sarcitella) which, in the larval state, is very destructive to wool and woolen fabrics. --
Pack needle, a needle for sewing with pack thread. Piers Plowman. --
Pack saddle, a saddle made for supporting the load on a pack animal. Shak. --
Pack staff, a staff for supporting a pack; a peddler's staff. --
Pack train (Mil.), a troop of pack animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

Strange materials packed up with wonderful art. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Where . . . the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are packed. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fill in the manner of a pack, that is, compactly and securely, as for transportation; hence, to fill closely or to repletion; to stow away within; to cause to be full; to crowd into; as, to pack a trunk; the play, or the audience, packs the theater. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To shuffle, sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly; to stack{ 3 } (the deck). [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Hence: To bring together or make up unfairly and fraudulently, in order to secure a certain result; to stack{ 3 }; as, to pack a jury or a caucus. [ 1913 Webster ]

The expected council was dwindling into . . . a packed assembly of Italian bishops. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He lost life . . . upon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To load with a pack; hence, to load; to encumber; as, to pack a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey. Shack. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; esp., to send away peremptorily or suddenly; to send packing; -- sometimes with off; as, to pack a boy off to school. [ 1913 Webster ]

He . . . must not die
Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. e., on the backs of men or beasts). [ Western U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Hydropathy) To envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings. See Pack, n., 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Mech.) To render impervious, as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without giving passage to air, water, or steam; as, to pack a joint; to pack the piston of a steam engine. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. To cover, envelop, or protect tightly with something; specif. (Hydropathy), to envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. To admit of stowage, or of making up for transportation or storage; to become compressed or to settle together, so as to form a compact mass; as, the goods pack conveniently; wet snow packs well. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To gather in flocks or schools; as, the grouse or the perch begin to pack. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To depart in haste; -- generally with off or away. [ 1913 Webster ]

Poor Stella must pack off to town Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

You shall pack,
And never more darken my doors again. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To unite in bad measures; to confederate for ill purposes; to join in collusion. [ Obs. ] “Go pack with him.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To send packing, to drive away; to send off roughly or in disgrace; to dismiss unceremoniously. “The parliament . . . presently sent him packing.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A bundle made up for transportation; a packet; a bale; a parcel; as, a package of goods. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A charge made for packing goods. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A duty formerly charged in the port of London on goods imported or exported by aliens, or by denizens who were the sons of aliens. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Crowded; as, the theater was packed. [ PJC ]

2. A ring of packing or a special device to render gas-tight and water-tight the space between the tubing and bore of an oil well. [ U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. To send in a packet or dispatch vessel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her husband
Was packeted to France. Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed days of sailing; a mail boat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Packet boat,
Packet ship, or
Packet vessel. See Packet, n., 2. --
Packet day, the day for mailing letters to go by packet; or the sailing day. --
Packet note or
Packet post. See under Paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any material used to pack, fill up, or make close. Specifically (Mach.): A substance or piece used to make a joint impervious; as: (a) A thin layer, or sheet, of yielding or elastic material inserted between the surfaces of a flange joint. (b) The substance in a stuffing box, through which a piston rod slides. (c) A yielding ring, as of metal, which surrounds a piston and maintains a tight fit, as inside a cylinder, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Masonry) Same as Filling. [ Rare in the U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A trick; collusion. [ Obs. ] Bale. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cherd packing (Bridge Building), the arrangement, side by side, of several parts, as bars, diagonals, a post, etc., on a pin at the bottom of a chord. Waddell. --
Packing box, a stuffing box. See under Stuffing. --
Packing press, a powerful press for baling cotton, wool, hay, etc. --
Packing ring. See Packing, 2 (c), and Illust. of Piston. --
Packing sheet. (a) A large cloth for packing goods. (b) A sheet prepared for packing hydropathic patients. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A plant where livestock are slaughtered and processed and packed as meat products.
Syn. -- packing plant. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A person who habitually saves items, even those unlikely to be useful. [ Informal ] [ PJC ]

1. To separate and remove, as things packed; to open and remove the contents of; as, to unpack a trunk. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To relieve of a pack or burden. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]