Definition of "parcel"

parcel

/ˈpɑɹsəl/

noun
plural parcels
1. A package wrapped for shipment.
  Quotations
  At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.
  1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […]
  “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […] ”
  1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Lisson Grove Mystery‎
2. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
3. An individual item appearing on an invoice or receipt (only in the phrase bill of parcels).
4. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.
5. (obsolete) A group of birds.
6. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
  Quotations
  […] this youthful parcelOf noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,
  c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii]
  […] instead of sitting (as she ought to have done) by her good father and mother, she must needs run up into the gallery, and sit with a parcel of giddy creatures of her own age […]
  1847 March 30, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], page 79
7. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
8. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
  Quotations
  The same Experiments succeed on two Parcels of the White of an Egg […]
  1731, John Arbuthnot, chapter 4, in An essay concerning the nature of aliments‎, London: J. Tonson, page 85
  The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government, sought divers foreign alliances.
  1881, John Addington Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy, Volume 5, Part I, New York: Henry Holt, Chapter 1, p. 2
  I don't think we are sitting prettySo far away from our fair cityBut I love you more than any parcel of earth.
  1982 April 3, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower”, in Gay Community News, page 15
verb
third-person singular simple present parcels, present participle parceling or parcelling, simple past and past participle parceled or parcelled
1. To wrap something up into the form of a package.
2. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.
3. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; often with off, out or into.
  Quotations
  Their woes are parcell’d, mine are general.
  c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]
  Thoſe ghoſtly Kings would parcel out my pow’r,And all the fatneſs of my Land devour;
  1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act I, scene ii, page 12
  Then the great Hall was wholly broken down,And the broad woodland parcell’d into farms;
  1864, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, etc.‎, London: Edward Moxon, pages 94–95
4. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
  Quotations
  […] that mine own servant shouldParcel the sum of my disgraces byAddition of his envy!
  c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene ii]
adverb
not comparable
1. (obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.
  Quotations
  Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet […]
  c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]
  […] as the worthy dame was parcel blind and more than parcel deaf, knowledge was excluded by two principal entrances […]
  1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, page 120
  here was one [a hut] that, summer-blanch’d,Was parcel-bearded with the traveller’s-joyIn Autumn, parcel ivy-clad;
  1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], page 59

Definition of "parcel"

parcel

noun

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verb

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adverb

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