| 释义 |
▪ I. pack, n.1|pæk|
Forms: 3–7 packe, 4–5 pakke, (4 palke), 4–6 pak, (5–6 pake), 4– pack.
[ME. packe, pakke (early 13th c.) corresponds to early MFlem. pac (12th c.), MDu. (a 1300), MLG., Du., LG. pak; (late) MHG. and Ger. pack; also Icel. pakki (1337), Sw. packa, Da., Norw. pakke; obs. F. pacque (c 1510 in Godef.), AngloL. (15–16th c.) paccus; mod. It. pacco; mod. Ir. pac.
App. immediately from Flemish, Dutch, or Low German in 12th c. The earliest instance of the word yet recorded is of 1199 at Ghent, in Warnkönig-Gheldolf Hist. de Gand 236 ‘Omne pac, quod in curru fertur, sive parvum, sive magnum, si fuerit funiculatum, debet quatuor denarios’. Pac occurs also at Utrecht in 1244 (Höhlbaum Hans. Urkundenbuch I. 109). The verb (pack v.1) appears at an early date in connexion with the wool trade, and it is known that the trade in English wool was chiefly with the Low Countries. The Fr. examples of pacque and pacqhuus packhouse (at Ghent and Lille) are prob. from Flemish. Ulterior history and origin unknown. The conjecture (in Diez, Körting, etc.), that pac is Romanic, seems ill-founded; the ‘late L.’ paccus being merely Anglo-Latin, i.e. the latinized form of Eng. pack; the word is quite late in It. Irish paca, pac is from Eng. (Senses 8–12 below, esp. 10–12 are rather from pack v.)]
1. a. A bundle of things enclosed in a wrapping or tied together compactly, esp. to be carried by a man or beast; a package, parcel, esp. one of considerable size or weight; a bale; spec. a bundle of goods carried by a pedlar.
a1225Ancr. R. 166 Noble men & gentile ne bereð nout packes. 1313–14Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 512 In vj cordis pro Pakkis empt. 5s. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 201 Me were leuer, by owre lorde and I lyue shulde, Haue pacience perfitlich þan half þi pakke of bokes! Ibid. xiv. 212 Þere þe pore preseth bifor þe riche with a pakke at his rugge. 1472–5Rolls of Parlt. VI. 155/2 To doo unpakke there tho Pakkes and Fardels. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 240 A pedler..Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe, As bells, and babes, and glasses in hys packe. 1643Declar. Lords & Comm., Reb. Ireland 49 Having taken out of her [a ship] eleven packs of Cloth. 1784Cowper Task i. 465 A pedlar's pack, that bows the bearer down. 1803Wellington in Gurw. Desp. II. 20 Letter..from the Military Board, upon the subject of packs for bullocks. 1844Regul. & Ord. Army 157 The Pack is to be invariably on when fitting the Accoutrements. 1884H. Spencer in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 161 There is a Pedlar's Act..giving the Police power to search pedlars' packs.
†b. Bundle of money, stock of cash; cash-box.
c1394P. Pl. Crede 399 Þer is no peny in my pakke [MS. palke] to payen for my mete. 1578Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. i. III. 39 Having wairit thair haill pak thair-upoun.
c. fig. (Usually with conscious reference to the literal sense.)
1568T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 73 Bicause thou cleane deliuered art, of great and heauie pack. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 128 There is no..skill in the learned that is not in Osorius packe. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Ch. Porch xxiv, Man is a shop of rules, a well-truss'd pack Whose every parcell under-writes a law. 1798Southey To Marg. Hill 17 Like Christian on his pilgrimage, I bear So heavy a pack of business. 1897Outing XXX. 374/1 Men..shoulder their packs of general cussedness, and..hit the trail. 1962J. Braine Life at Top vi. 101 Suddenly the pack was on my shoulders again; there was no quietness in the room.
d. Photogr. A set of two or three plates or films sensitive to different colours which are superimposed and exposed simultaneously. Cf. bi-pack, tri-pack.
1907Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 19 July 547/2 By interspersing..filters with films in sets for tri-chromatic negatives..the respective exposures can be made in rapid sequence without removing the pack from the camera. 1929Penrose Ann. XXXI. 41 To assert that the colour analysis of the pack is equal to that of orthodox trichromatic work would be incorrect.
e. A knapsack, rucksack, usually with a wooden frame. Chiefly Forces' and N.Z.
1916‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 49 The neutral ground..was a sea of mud..littered with..packs which had been cut from or slipped from the shoulders of the wounded. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 218 Pack, the infantry knapsack. 1958Tararua XII. 27 Food and gear have to be carried. Everyone in New Zealand..puts it in a pack. 1968N.Z. Listener 15 Mar. 6/1 You women can't go carrying all that stuff. Here, Joyce, give us your pack, Joyce! 1969Ibid. 21 Feb. 4/1 Hobnail boots and canvas pack..just the gear for pushing through scrub and supplejack. 1971Ibid. 22 Feb. 51/2 Pack carrying is still the same old personal battle between man and gravity. 1973Parade Sunday Bull. (Philadelphia) 7 Oct. 31/2 Packs: Most versatile pack is a tubular metal pack frame, contoured to the body with a waist strap that transfers the weight to the legs and hip muscles.
f. A packet or package, esp. of cigarettes.
More usual in the U.S. than in the U.K.
1924Saucy Stories May 54/1 Miss de Rose..reached for a pack of Strikes. 1936Discovery Nov. 345/2 Ten nuts are the equivalent of one pack of Golden Bat cigarettes. 1937J. A. Lee Civilian into Soldier v. 219 He emptied his pack of issue cigarettes. 1951N.Y. Times 14 June 22/6 It comes in a little pack. 1958Listener 19 June 1015/1 Six packs of American cigarettes. 1959Housewife June 80 The fine white Table Salt in the gaily coloured packs! 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 218 Stoned with lush, with pot,..Milltown, coffee, and two packs a day, I was working live, and overalert, and tiring into what felt like death. 1963B.S.I. News Apr. 20/1 The ‘shelf-appeal’ pack designed to catch the eye of the ordinary shopper. 1974‘J. Le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor xxiii. 201 Gerstmann was a chain-smoker: Camels. I sent out for several packs of them—packs is the American word?
g. The container into which a parachute is packed.
1926Sci. Amer. Aug. 100/1 (caption) This photograph..shows the pilot parachute just emerging from the pack. 1930C. J. V. Murphy Parachute 43 The jumper, with the pack strapped on his back, dived from the wing of a plane. 1940Aeroplane 13 Sept. 298/2 A small pilot chute..pulls the main parachute out of its pack. 1969D. Dwiggins Bailout vi. 88, I would have to jump, but first squeeze from my turret and reach my parachute pack from its rack in the fuselage. 1976A. White Long Silence vii. 59 The snap when the fixed line broke open the pack, and the jerk when the pack pulled out the chute.
2. As a measure, definite or indefinite, of various commodities: see quots.
1488–9Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 22 The gold packed..weyeth not above vij unces, and sold for iij li. sterling the pack. 1545Brinklow Compl. ii. (1874) 12 Whan he sold his clothys for a reasonable price the pack. 1706Phillips, Pack of Wooll, a Horse-load, consisting of seventeen Stone and two Pounds, or 240 Pound weight. 1744A. Dobbs Acct. Countries adjoining Hudson's Bay 39 He had four Packs of Beaver of 40 each. 1774S. Hearne Jrnl. 11 Oct. (1934) 122 By the Masters account..65 or 70 Packs or Caggs, called by them Pieces, are put on board each canoe. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Norwich, The weavers here..use many thousand packs of yarn spun in other counties. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 127 Of wool... A pack is 12 stones; that is, 24 lib. of white, and 25½ lib. of..laid wool to the stone. 1812Sir G. Prevost in Examiner 5 Oct. 630/1, 700 packs of furs. c1840D. Thompson Narr. Explorations W. Amer. 1784–1812 (1916) iv. 417, I traded three packs of Furrs (a pack is 90 lbs). 1847–78Halliwell, Pack..a measure of coals, containing about three Winchester bushels. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade Products s.v., A pack of flour or Indian-corn meal, flax, etc. weighs 280 lbs.; of wool 240 lbs. net: formerly, in many parts of the country it was 252 lbs. 1890Cent. Dict., Pack... A package of gold-leaf containing 20 ‘books’ of 25 leaves each. 1961Phillips & Smurr Fur Trade II. 330 [He] fined him thirty packs of beaver, which was just the quantity he had.
3. a. A company or set of persons; generally implying low character, or association for some evil purpose, but often merely expressing contempt or depreciation, and formerly sometimes without such implication; a ‘gang’, ‘lot’.
13..Cursor M. 2212 (Gött.) Fra est he brohut ane euyl pack [Cott. felauscap]..Sexti werkemen þai wer. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 299 Yit they were hethene al the pak. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 3752 Þou hase destruyed vs, al þe pak. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark vii. 50 The Scribes, Phariseis, yea, and almoste all the whole packe of the Iewes. 1578Banister Hist. Man viii. 111 The whole packe of the principall Anathomistes haue..affirmed fiue payre of sinewes to the loynes. 1652Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) 316 Mr. Whitelocke is as mischievous to the K. and all his friends in England as any among the pack of rebels. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 97 A Pack of Thieves that had infested the Roads a long time. 1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man i. i, A pack of drunken servants. 1820Scott Monast. x, An the whole pack of ye were slain, there were more lost at Flodden. 1885Dunckley in Manch. Exam. 23 Mar. 6/1 The House..resembles in many respects a pack of schoolboys.
b. A large collection, or set (of things, esp. abstract); a ‘heap’, ‘lot’. (Usually depreciative.)
1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 20 Rather..Then (by concealing it) heap on your head A pack of sorrowes. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Miserie ix, No not to purchase the whole pack of starres: There let them shine. 1638Penit. Conf. vii. (1657) 123 That ridiculous pack of heresies amassed by the Council of Constance. 1693Humours Town 86 An endless pack of Knaveries. 1763Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 185 Would you rather that I should write you a pack of lies? 1862Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 140 What a pack of complaints! 1880E. B. Hamley in Shand Life (1895) II. xvi. 17 Pack of nonsense.
c. Rugby Football. The forwards of a team, who form one half of the scrummage; also, the scrummage itself.
1887M. Shearman Athletics & Football ii. iii. 305 The chief business of the half-back then became to snap up the ball..as soon as it came away from the pack. 1900A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 253 Form a compact scrummage with the heads down. Long and straggling packs are easily broken through. 1909Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 20/2 Cambridge have an exceptionally fine pack, to whom they must look almost entirely for victory, their halves and three-quarters being but moderate. 1927H. S. Walpole Jeremy at Crale xvi. 278 Mellon's probably the best three-quarter playing on any school side this season. But that needn't worry us. We've got a better pack than theirs. 1955Times 1 Aug. 3/3 The British forwards..were beaten time and again by the Rhodesian pack. 1960E. S. & W. J. Higham High-Speed Rugby iii. xii. 147 Only those who have played in the pack know what will-power it sometimes requires to stand up from a scrum in the last ten minutes and force the weary legs to run. 1972G. Slatter Football is Fifteen i. 16 Tom Morrison, manager of the All Blacks, said only the forwards would know what the loss of Simpson meant to the pack. 1976Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 29 Nov. 13/7 Pressure from Beccles led to a five-metre scrum where they pushed the Union pack back over the line to give Shannon a try.
d. The organizational unit of the Brownie and Wolf Cub movements.
1918[see Brownie1 2]. 1932U. M. Williams For Brownies 111 Brown Owl is guarding the rest of the pack. 1945‘Gilcraft’ How to run a Pack 5 The man or woman who in a weak moment has consented to run a Wolf Cub Pack. 1965Wolf Cub Jubilee Bk. 31 Some Cub Packs in Canada have a real wolf's head on the top of their totem pole. 1973Guardian 1 Apr. 11/3 Brown Owl said she'd understand if I wasn't quite happy in the pack.
e. In the war of 1939–45, a number of German submarines operating together.
1943Times 13 Dec. 2/1 The story is told below of the defeat of a pack of U-boats in the North Atlantic. 1944Daily Tel. 11 July 3 Captain Walker and his crew smashed U-boat packs lying across the Arctic and North Atlantic convoy routes. 1956R. Braddon Nancy Wake ix. 96 The Bay of Biscay was to be the main target area for U-Boat packs. 1961S. E. Ellacott Ships under Sea x. 100 A common practice among U-boat packs was to lie in line at one- or two-mile intervals across a shipping lane. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 252/2 The German submarine packs..were threatening to starve us into submission.
†4. Applied to a person of low or worthless character; almost always with naughty. Obs.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 b, Al though they be wretched lyuers & noughty packes amonge. 1540R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. i. vii. (1557) 18 Calle hir a naughtie packe: withe that one woorde thou haste taken all from hir, and haste lefte hir bare and foule. 1638Rowley Shoomaker a gentleman iv. G iv b, Hence you Whore⁓master knave,..Thou naughty packe. 1725Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1878) I. 76 What does this idle Pack want? 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 106, I never heard she was a naughty Pack. [1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xvii, Drake sent them all off again for a lot of naughty packs.]
5. a. A number of animals kept or naturally congregating together; applied spec. to a company of hounds kept for hunting, and to those of certain beasts (esp. wolves), and of birds (e.g. grouse) which naturally associate for purposes of attack or defence.
1648Hunting of Fox 26 All joyn (like so many dogs in a pack) in pursuing these Foxes. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 311/1 A Pack of Grous, or Heath-cocks. 1735Somerville Chase ii. 100 So from the Kennel rush the joyous Pack. 1774Goldsm. Retal. 107 He cast off his friends, as a hunts⁓man his pack, For he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back. 1795Southey Joan of Arc Wks. 1837 I. 179 When from the mountains round reverberates The hungry wolves' deep yell;..The famish'd pack come round. 1862Johns Brit. Birds 357 Coveys of Ptarmigan unite and form large packs.
b. ‘The shepherd's portion in a ‘hirsel’, or flock of sheep, grazed on the farm as his pay for looking after the whole herd’ (Heslop Northumbld. Wds. 1894); also one of these, a pack-sheep.[By some viewed as a distinct word and connected with pact, for which however no evidence has been found.] 1825Jamieson, Packs, the sheep, of whatever gender, that a shepherd is allowed to feed along with his master's flock, this being in lieu of wages. 1831Sutherland Farm Rep. 77 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Employing eleven married shepherds and eight young men, this gives the number of twelve hundred and fifty shepherds' sheep or packs mingled among the master's flocks. 1886C. Scott Sheep-Farming 148 If the shepherd is allowed a ‘pack’, then of course the ‘pack sheep’ have marks totally different from the flock. 1888Scott. Leader 23 Mar. 4 The ‘pack’ consisted of 50 sheep.
6. A complete set of playing-cards, varying in number according to the game and the country (see card n.2 1).
c1597Harington On Play in Nugæ Ant. (1804) I. 212 To skorne that gayne that is got with a packe of cards and dyce. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxxviii. 151 With three of the worst cards in the pack. 1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1925/4 The very best Cards shall be sold in London by the last Retailer, at four Pence the Pack. 1711Addison Spect. No. 93 ⁋8 Shuffling and dividing a Pack of Cards. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. iv. ii. 291 The pack or set of cards, in the old plays, is continually called a pair of cards. 1816Singer Hist. Cards 38 The Spanish Pack consists, like the German, of forty-eight cards only, the tens in the former, and the aces in the latter, being omitted. 1878H. H. Gibbs Ombre 7 A pack of forty Cards having no eights, nines, or tens, among them.
7. A large area of floating ice in pieces of considerable size, driven or ‘packed’ together into a nearly continuous and coherent mass (as found in polar seas).
1791Trans. Soc. Arts IX. 164 Close to a pack of ice. 1820Scoresby in Ann. Reg. ii. 1324/2 A pack is a body of drift-ice of such magnitude, that its extent is not discernible. 1824Parry North West Passage i. 4 We came to the edge of the ‘pack’ in the course of the forenoon. 18..in Borthwick Br. Amer. Rdr. (1860) 264 If the field [of ice] is broken into a number of pieces none of which are more than forty or fifty yards across, the whole is called a pack.
8. Coal-mining. A mass of rough stones, etc., built up into a wall or pillar to support the roof.
1867W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 142 Such stone, and what breaks from the roof, is often built up in packs, or masses of dry rubble walling; and the roads which pass through the gob have thus to be protected by a pack wall of some feet thick on either side. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Pack, a wall or pillar built of gob to support the roof.
9. A pyramidal pile of fish set to dry.
18..Perley (Cent.), After a fortnight's drying, the fish should be put into a pack or steeple, for the purpose of sweating.
10. An act or the action of packing (in various senses: see pack v.1).
a1612Harington Epigr. (1633) ii. xcix, And thus what with the stop, and with the pack, Poore Marcus, and his rest goes still to wrack. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Pack,..Pack of Juries, Packing of Cards. 1745H. Pelham in W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. (1757) 11 Let William Thompson be continued as lately, in overlooking the Pack [of meat in casks], and Pickling. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 125 All was hurry, pack, and dispatch.
11. a. Hydropathy. The swathing of the body in a wet sheet, blanket, etc. (pack v.1 6 b); the state of being so packed; the sheet, etc., in which a patient is thus packed. Also dry-pack: see quot.
1849Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 47 The bath-woman should have stayed with me during the first ‘pack’. 1859J. Smedley Practical Hydrop. 43 Wet packs may be repeated several times in the space of twelve hours. Ibid. 45 The dry pack is to produce a greater degree of perspiration, and is useful in chronic rheumatism [etc.]. Ibid. (1870) 87 It is not safe to leave a patient in pack without an attendant near. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 160 Wet sheets, packs, sitz-baths, and douches are of great value.
b. Surg. A soft pad usu. composed of several layers of gauze sewn together, used esp. for wedging organs of the body during an operation.
1916Parker & Breckinridge Surg. & Gynæcol. Nursing xx. 263 At the Mayo clinic three sizes of packs are used, (1) 4 × 8 inches, (2) 5 inches by 3 yards, (3) 3 inches by 2 feet. The latter are used for packing about the gall-bladder. 1944W. W. Babcock Princ. & Pract. Surg. xviii. 285 Salt packs consist of gauze soaked in 10 per cent hypertonic solution in which 5- or 10-grain tablets of sodium chloride are embedded. 1955Times 15 July 11/4 The plaintiffs' cause of action was that during an operation on Mrs. Urry for the delivery of a child by lower Caesarian section, a swab or pack was left in her body. 1955M. G. Lynch in Ochsner & DeBakey Christopher's Minor Surg. (ed. 7) xxi. 500/1 Gelfoam packs will often control this bleeding. 1970H. Haxton Surg. Techniques vii. 45 Most bleeding can be controlled by the pressure of a pack or a finger on the right spot.
c. Dentistry. A substance applied in a plastic state to the gums around and between the teeth, subsequently hardening, to serve as a dressing after disease or surgery of periodontal tissue.
1923A. W. Ward in Jrnl. Amer. Dental Assoc. X. 478/2 In order to avoid infection, pain, sensitiveness of the roots..I have devised a quick setting pack. This pack is mixed like cement and flowed between the teeth and all over the exposed surface. The tissues regenerate under the pack, which is allowed to remain four to six days after the operation. 1953I. Glickman Clin. Periodontology xliv. 743 The mixed pack is separated into small masses. Ibid. 746 If a portion of the pack fractures off within three days after it was placed, the entire pack should be replaced. 1974D. L. Allen et al. Periodontics for Dental Hygienist (ed. 2) x. 206 The placement of a periodontal dressing or pack following surgery is extremely important.
d. = face-pack s.v. face n. 27.
1934M. Verni Mod. Beauty Culture i. v. 29/1 In many schools of beauty, the pupils are taught to sponge the face with hot water before applying the pack. 1944R. G. Harry Mod. Cosmeticology (ed. 2) v. 55 The tightening effect is produced by the drying of the pack, and is enhanced by the presence of albumin and/or certain gums. 1964Wells & Lubowe Cosmetics & Skin ii. vii. 202 The significant mechanism operative in the use of face packs is the drying of the pack on the skin surface. 1972Vogue Jan. 15/2 To transform a dry skin..use this simple pack.
12. The quantity (of fish, fruit, etc.) packed in tins or cans in a particular season or year.
1889Pall Mall G. 20 Sept. 6/3 The value of this year's pack, exclusive of salted fish and fresh salmon shipped, will be..2,640,000 dols. 1896Living Topics Cycl. (N.Y.) II. 189 During the year the canned fruit pack amounted to 1,280,000 cases. 1901Scotsman 26 Mar. 5/1 Canadian fisheries..the ‘pack’, or quantity canned amounted to 16,403 tons.
13. Short for pack-horse, pack-beast.
1866N. Chevalier Reminisc. Journey across South Island (typescript) 7 The pack [was] a strong heavy old chap, the third pretty good. The fourth a flea bitten Arab mare. 1887H. W. Daly Digging & Squatting 154, I had two horses, one which I used as a ‘pack’, and the other I rode.
14. Slang phr. to send to the pack (see quot. 1916); also to go to the pack, to lose a (high) position, to ‘go to pieces’, to deteriorate. Chiefly Austral. and N.Z.
1916C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke 94 I've sent the leery bloke that bore me name Clean to the pack wivout one pearly tear. Ibid. 127 To send to the pack, to relegate to obscurity. 1919W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 26 Go to the pack, deteriorate. 1934T. Wood Cobbers xvi. 200 The country was going to the pack. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake 269 If she can't follow suit Renée goes to the pack. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xvi. 250 Everything'ull go to the pack unless they're let go home again. 1952D. Niland in Coast to Coast 1951–52 196, I can't let him go to the pack like that. 1958G. Casey Snowball 118 You wait till he gets a bit older. Them abos always go t' the pack. 1963D. Crick Martin Place 196 Things are goin' to the pack. If they get any shorter of work, they'll close down.
15. attrib. and Comb.
a. attrib. Constituting or serving for a pack or bundle, as pack-bag, pack-basket, pack-box, pack-load, pack-paper; loaded with or used for carrying a pack, as pack-animal, pack-ass, pack-beast, pack-bullock, pack-cow, pack-dog, pack-donkey, pack-mule, pack-ox, pack-pony.
b. objective and instrumental, as pack-bearer, pack-bearing adj., pack-carriage, pack-driver, pack-laden adj.c. Special Combs.: pack and prime way [cf. prime a.], local name for a way by which packs may be carried on horseback, etc., a bridle-way; so pack and prime bridge, pack and prime road; pack-cinch (U.S.), a wide ‘cinch’ or girth, with a hook at one end and a ring at the other, used with a pack-saddle; pack-clouds (poet.), densely massed clouds; pack-draper, an itinerant draper carrying his goods in a pack; pack-drill, a military punishment (see quot. 1890); also in phr. no names, no pack-drill: see name n. 1 h; pack-duck [duck n.3] (see quot.); pack-fork (see quot.); pack-frame, a frame, usu. of metal, into which a knapsack or other pack is fitted for easier transport; pack-ice, ice forming a pack (sense 7); pack-leader, the leader of a group of animals; † pack-line, packthread; pack-moth, a species of clothes-moth (Anacampsis sarcitella); † pack-paunch, ? a paunch like a pack, a big belly or big-bellied person; pack-peddler, one who travels round from village to village with a pack of small items for sale; pack-rat, the North American bushytailed woodrat, Neotoma cinerea; also attrib. and fig.; hence as v. trans., to collect an assortment of objects, as a pack-rat does; pack-road, a road along which pack-animals are driven; pack-sack, the container into which goods comprising a pack are put, a rucksack; also attrib. in phr. pack-sack citizen (Canad.), a vagrant; pack-sheet, (a) a sheet for packing goods in; (b) Med., a wet sheet for packing or wrapping a patient in; packshot, in television advertising, a close-up picture of the advertised product in its wrappings; pack-strap(s, the strap or straps which secure a load round the forehead or shoulders of a person or to the back of a pack animal; pack tactics, the practice of German submarines of operating in groups; pack-track, -trail, a path or route suitable for a pack-train; pack-train, a train of pack-beasts with their packs; pack-twine, twine used for tying up a pack, packthread; pack-wall (Coal-mining): see sense 8; pack-ware, ‘ware’ or goods carried in a pack (in quot. fig.); pack-way = pack-road; pack-wool, wool done up in packs. Also pack-horse, -house, etc.
1628Coke On Litt. 56 A foot way and horse way..vulgarly is called a *pack and prime way. 1798in Yorks. N. & Q. I. 189 A carriage bridge would be more convenient to the public, than repairing the present pack and prime bridge. 1888Sheffield Gloss., Pack-and-prime road, a packhorse road across the moors.
1847Santa Fé (New Mexico) Republican 16 Oct. 2/2 They left their wagons and took *pack animals, and ten days' provisions. 1884J. Colborne Hicks Pasha 44 The pack animals we sent on as before.
1643Prynne Sov. Power Parl. i. (ed. 2) 4 *Packe-asses with Bels about their neckes.
1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xxix. (1674) 33, I should be baser than a *Pack-bearer, if I did not arrogate to my self the whole power.
1605Daniel Philotas i. i. Poems (1717) 322 Still they preach to us *Pack-bearing Patience, that base Property..of th' all-enduring Ass.
1877Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. I. 24 Myles..was sitting on an inverted box, his own *pack-box, in front of the fire.
1845Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 38 *Pack-bullocks, camels, pack-horses.
1707J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. i. iv. 45 No where greater plenty of horses..for Plough and *Pack-Carriage.
1871G. M. Hopkins Note-bks. & Papers (1937) 141 If you look well at big *pack-clouds.
1880I. L. Bird Japan II. 268 *Pack⁓cows with velvet frontlets embroidered in gold.
1844New Orleans Picayune 18 Mar. 38/1 The only assistant they took with them was an Indian-trained *pack dog. 1913I. Cowie Company of Adventurers 323 Pack-ponies were also used; also pack dogs, the latter bearing frequently burdens mountains high in comparison with their size. 1933B. Willoughby Alaskans All 18 We four stood clinging to the collars of our pack dogs, wondering what marvels lay beyond. 1976T. Walker Spatsizi xii. 132 Travelling slowly with their pack dogs, they walked 150 miles through the mountains.
1889Pall Mall G. 10 July 7/2 He had..five well-trained horses, sixteen *pack donkeys.
1880Jefferies Hodge & M. II. 168 The *pack-drapers come round visiting every cottage.
1845W. H. Maxwell Hints to Soldier I. 13 A full guard house, dozens at *pack-drill. 1890R. Kipling Soldiers Three (1891) 76 Mulvaney was doing pack-drill—was compelled that is to say, to walk up and down in full marching order, with rifle, bayonet, ammunition, knapsack, and over⁓coat.
1846Worcester, *Pack-Duck, a coarse sort of linen for pack-cloths, etc.
1648–60Hexham Dutch Dict., Een Refe, a *Pack-forke which Travellers use to carry their packs upon.
1955E. Hillary High Adventure vii. 118 Her [sc. the Sherpani's] method of carrying it [sc. her load] was with a headband, and as I had no *pack frame with me I had to follow suit. 1963Guardian 9 Aug. 7/4 To get to Dyrfjoll was a whole day's march from the nearest road and the pair used a sledge pack⁓frame on the way in. 1973[see above sense 1 e]. 1976G. Moffat Over Sea to Death x. 119 The paraphernalia of [mountain] rescue: rucksacks, pack frames, radio sets.
1485Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 38 Shanke hokes..iij, *Pakke hokes..iiij, Leche hokes..iiij.
1850R. A. Goodsir Arctic Voy. Baffin's Bay 108 As long as there was a chance of procuring whales in Prince Regent's Inlet, he might have perserved..great as the risk would have been in pushing through the heavy *pack⁓ice we had fallen in with. 1876Davis Polaris Exp. iii. 71 At 5 a.m. of the 26th, close pack-ice was again encountered. 1930Times Educ. Suppl. 25 Jan. p. iv/1 From the air it was also observed that the great region of heavy pack-ice..gives place to waters comparatively little encumbered. 1965Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard 3 Apr. 4/5 About 300,000 of these seals are killed on the pack ice every spring. 1975Nature 18 Dec. 594/1 In the foraminifera-poor beds which we believe represent periods free, at least seasonally, of packice.
1901Daily News 4 Mar. 7/4 They saw the patient but wily mule *pack-laden with the sleeping bags and other impedimenta of the travellers. 1440Eton Accts. in Athen. (1887) 69/1 [Purchase of string] voc. paklynes [for measuring foundations of the college].
1902J. H. M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 35 In work where there is a probability of being under fire..the *pack-leader might be left behind. 1975W. H. Nesbitt in M. W. Fox Wild Canids xxvii. 394 The female pack leader [of a group of feral dogs] often ‘scouted’ ahead before moving the pack.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pack-load, the average load an animal can carry on its back... The pack load for a man is about 60 lbs., for a pony 125 lbs., for a bullock 210 lbs., and for an elephant 1000 lbs.
1862T. W. Harris Insects injur. Veget. (ed. 3) v. 493 The *pack-moth (Anacampsis sarcitella), which is very destructive to wool and fabrics made of this material.
1835A. Underwood in Southwestern Hist. Q. (1928–9) XXXII. 139 In company with Messrs. Money, Gay..and William Pruit attended by a Mexican with a *pack mule we took our departure. 1839Z. Leonard Adventures (1904) 61 We now scattered over a considerable range of country for the purpose of hunting, leaving ten or twelve men only to bring on the pack-mules. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 246/2 The Indians, with their pack mules laden with kegs and canteens of water, were sent back over the trail. 1909W. R. Harris Catholic Church in Utah 128 We..entered a small mountain forest of pine trees in which we lost one of our pack mules. 1934F. Stark Valleys of Assassins ii. 74, I..crouched with my back to the gale on the pack-mule.
1785G. Forster tr. Sparrman's Voy. Cape G.H. (1786) I. 238 These oxen are by the colonists called *pack-oxen.
1585J. Higins Junius' Nomenclator 6 *Packe paper, or cap paper, such paper as Mercers and other occupiers vse to wrappe their ware in.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 101 A foule fog *pack paunch.
1868Harper's Mag. Aug. 348/2 Ten years ago a *pack peddler went through the town. 1880Ibid. Nov. 892/1 There was a pack peddler with smuggled shawls and laces at the door. 1944G. Wilson Passing Institutions 70 We..married, and died in a small area, learning of the big outside world only through books and an occasional pack peddler or clock tinker who came in.
1870De B. R. Keim Sheridan's Troopers on Borders 201 [Indians] drive the herds and *pack-ponies, or else on foot lead them. 1923J. H. Cook 50 Yrs. Old Frontier 98 We used pack ponies on the return trip.
1885Roosevelt Hunting Trips 13 These rats were christened *pack rats, on account of their curious and inveterate habit of dragging off to their holes every object they can possibly move. 1936D. McCowan Animals Canad. Rockies xxii. 196 From the fact that it habitually transports sundry articles from one place to another the animal [sc. the wood rat], in the West, is commonly called Pack rat. 1955Priestley & Hawkes Journey down Rainbow iii. 47 A mass of bat and pack-rat droppings. 1963Spectator 21 June 803/2 Obsessed with some impulse, like a packrat fear of throwing anything away. 1966H. Marriott Cariboo Cowboy iii. 40, I had other visitors every so often in the shape of sharp⁓faced, long-tailed rats which were known as pack rats. 1970R. Lowell Notebk. 22 The horrifying mortmain of Ephemera: keys, drift, sea-urchin shells, Packratted off with joy. 1970Publishers' Weekly 8 June 154 A pack rat is somebody who wants to have his own information material, his own personal library or files, even if this means indulging in a little petty thieving. 1973Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. CCXI. 308 The sporadic pack-rat collecting we all do every day by habit amidst the print, graffiti, and speech that encompass our peculiar lives. 1973‘D. Shannon’ No Holiday for Crime (1974) vi. 94 When I came to, they were busy as packrats carting stuff out.
1881Green Making of Eng. ii. 64 A wild region of tumbled hills, traversed but by a few *pack-roads.
1851W. Kelly Excursion to California I. ix. 159 We, the packers, were now busily employed making *pack-sacks of a uniform size. 1920Rod & Gun in Canada Nov. 715/1 A good old-time packsack. 1966Globe & Mail (Toronto) 18 Jan. B5/7 [He] was a pack-sack citizen and appeared on Skid Row streets..with..caulk boots which would be later hocked for the last bottle. 1970‘E. Lathen’ Pick up Sticks (1971) viii. 70 The packsacks under Thatcher's chair contrasted strongly to the matched sets of luggage piled everywhere.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pack-sheet, a baling material, a large cover for goods in a wagon.
1960O. Skilbeck ABC of Film & TV 94 *Pack Shot, the egregious scene with which most T.V. ‘Commercials’ conclude: a C.U. of the Sponsor's wrapped product. 1966G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising v. 42 In seven-second commercials there is little time to show anything except a title card or a ‘pack shot’ establishing a visual image of the product. 1969Focal Encycl. Film & Television Techniques 128/1 Television advertising, for instance, makes much use of cinemacrography in the so⁓called ‘pack shots’ but these are normally filmed at a scale of less than 1:1.
1897J. W. Tyrrell Across Sub-Arctics of Canada 12 Western half-breeds, trained in the use of the *pack-straps as well as the paddle. Ibid. 70 We both took a turn at the pack-straps. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail 113 The solitary man with the packstraps across his fore⁓head and shoulders had never seen so many [wood creatures]. 1949P. Newton High Country Days iv. 38 The swags..lashed together [on a pack-horse] with the long packstraps. 1956M. Duggan Immanuel's Land 53 He walked along..with the packstraps cutting into his shoulders. 1956H. S. M. Kemp Northern Trader 25 Our canoemen tied their packstraps around a hundred-pound piece, piled another hundred-pound piece atop it, squatted down cross-legged while they adjusted the headband, heaved themselves up and jogged off. 1960B. Crump Good Keen Man 109 The only reason my pack-straps didn't go the same way was that I noticed Harry eyeing them.
1942Sun (Baltimore) 21 Feb. 2/8 The Nazi in command of the U-boat fleet, had promised to use ‘*pack tactics’ on the Eastern Atlantic and save the largest submarines and best crews for attacks off American shores, to cripple Allied tanker strength. 1944Hansard Commons 7 Mar. 1897 It might have seemed as if perhaps after all, the U-boats with their pack tactics might defeat the convoy system.
1870App. Jrnls. House Reps. N.Z. D. xl. 6 It will be desirable to connect them [sc. No Name diggings] by a metalled *pack-track with Marsden to the Greenstone. 1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (ser. 1) ix. 219 It [sc. a hut] is miles by pack-track from the nearest neighbour.
1843in Utah Hist. Q. (1929) II. 116 There is little grass in the mountains and the *pack trail bad. 1911Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 29 Apr. 17/6 The completion of a pack trail into the valley of the Naas. 1965Beaver Autumn 54/1 Along the pack trail we met trappers coming out of the bush.
1849K. Webster Diary 19 June in Gold Seekers of '49 (1917) iii. 50 It is said at Fort Kearney that the wagons passed here already this season, en route for California, number 5,400, and also three *pack trains. 1862R. C. Mayne Four Yrs. Brit. Columbia & Vancouver I. 148 From thence pack-trains could make Alexandria..in 14 or 15 days. 1872Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 257 Several Mexican pack-trains and wagons were engaged transporting ore. 1922Beaver Nov. 64/1 The daily progress of a pack train is a single drive of ten to fifteen miles. 1965Beautiful Brit. Columbia Summer 9/1 He..operated a pack train for the Hudson's Bay Company.
1852W. Wickenden Hunchback's Chest Pref. 7 A roll..appeared tied round with a piece of coarse *pack-twine.
1583Foxe A. & M. 1527/2 Desirous to vtter such Popishe pelfe and *packeware as he brought with him.
1754T. Gardner Hist. Dunwich 39 A *Pack Way, now destroyed, went to Westleton-Walks.
1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2558/4 Three Bags of Cotton-yarn.., four of *Packwooll.
Add: [c indigo][3.] f.[/c] Sport. In a race: the main body of competitors following behind the leader or leaders, esp. when bunched together as a group; hence, any chasing group of competitors. Also fig. orig. U.S.
1929Sun (Baltimore) 12 May (Sports Section) 2/1 Paul Bunyan set most of the early pace, with the winner staying well within the pack. 1935B. Lyndon Grand Prix iii. 59 In the strung-out pack which followed, ‘Freddie’ Dixon began to put his foot hard down on the throttle-pedal of a Riley. 1946Collier's Oct. 23/1 According to the patented rules, the teams shake a man loose from the ‘pack’ or ‘jam’ of five skaters. 1958Time 30 June 68/3 They kept their 3-liter Ferrari well back in the pack. 1972Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 12/4 When McGovern was running back in the pack, it was all right to overlook the dangers of success because the dangers of defeat were so real. 1988National Jrnl. (U.S.) 19 Mar. 728/3 [He] predicted that a clear front-runner will emerge from the pack.
▪ II. † pack, n.2 Obs.
[Goes with pack v.2 of which it may be the n. of action.
In quot. 1605, either pack or pact may be a misprint.]
A private or clandestine arrangement, pact, or compact; a secret or underhand design agreed upon by two or more persons; a plot, conspiracy, intrigue.
1571Campion Hist. Irel. ii. i. (1633) 65 Reymond..lingered not for Letters Pattents, but stept over presently, and made his packe. 1579–80North Plutarch (1595) 455 It was found straight that this was a grosse packe betwixt Saturninus and Marius. 1600O. E. Repl. to Libel ii. v. 99 Vpon pretence of some pack against the Romish state. Ibid. iii. v. 29 This conference was nothing but a packe with the popes Nuncio for the aduancing of the popes credite. 1605Daniel Qveenes Arcadia i. ii. (1623) 333 A. Was't not a pack agreed twixt thee and me? C. A pact to make thee tell thy secrecy. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II cclix, Glocester, wth the Cheife of his Complices, Indited are of Treason; for the Packe Was broken.
▪ III. pack, a. Sc.
[Origin obscure; perh. related to pack n.2 or v.2]
On terms of close intercourse; confederate or leagued together, intimate; ‘thick’. Also as adv. Intimately.
1786Burns Twa Dogs 38 Nae doubt but they were fain o' ither, An' unco pack an' thick thegither. a1824Gypsie Laddie xii. in Child Ballads vii. (1890) 69/1 Sir, I saw this day a fairy queen Fu pack wi a gypsie laddie. 1863Janet Hamilton Poems & Ess. 37 John an' me hae lang been pack. 1893Stevenson Catriona 343 Him and me were never onyways pack; we used to girn at ither like a pair of pipers.
▪ IV. pack, v.1|pæk|
Forms: see pack n.; also pa. tense and pple. packed |pækt|; pple. in 6–7 pact.
[f. pack n.: see Anglo-Fr. packer (1423), enpaker (1294), Anglo-L. pakkare (c 1341), impaccare (1280). Cf. MDu., MLG., Du., LG. pakken, late MHG., Ger. packen; late Icel. pakka, Norw. pakka, Sw. packa, Da. pakke; F. pacquier (1530 in Palsgr.), pacquer (1600 in Godef.).
Early examples in Anglo-Fr. and Anglo-L.:
1280Memoranda Roll (L.T.R.) 7 & 8 Edw. I. m. 13 (P.R.O.) Inueniet..sarpellarios..ad predictam lanam impaccandam. 1294Acc. Exch., K.R. Bundle 126 No. 7 (2) m. 4 E le apariller de ceste leine e les sarpellers a mesme la leine enpaker nous vnt couste cest an..iij.li. ij.s. vj.d. 1341Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 542 Pro lana pakkanda. 1409–10Rolls of Parlt. III. 626/1 Certeyns Merchantz..en mesmes les packes sotelment enpackent layn fyne, or et argent. 1423Act 2 Hen. VI, c. 11 Le Barelle de Harank danguilles [sil ne contiegnent] xxx. galons pleinement pakkez. 16th c. transl. Nor barrell of Herring nor of Eeles vnles they contayn 30 gallons fully packed. ]
I.
1. a. trans. To make into a pack, package, bale, or compact bundle; to put together compactly as a bundle, or in a box, bag, or other receptacle, esp. for convenience of transport or for storing.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1282 Now hatz Nabuzardan nomen alle þyse noble þynges, And pyled þat precious place and pakked þose godes. 1444Rolls of Parlt. V. 104/2 There is grete plenty of Wolle Yerne, dailly pakkede and shippede. 1494Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 23 The same Herring should be well, truly, and justly layed and packed. 1580in Rec. Convent. Roy. Burghs (1870) I. 100 He sall pak..no grilses with salmound, bot sax grilses in ane barrell at the maist. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 210 So many folders to fold their clothes, and so many packers to pack their packs. 1693Dryden Juvenal iii. 18 My Friend, just ready to depart, Was packing all his Goods in one poor Cart. 1776Adam Smith W.N. iv. viii. (1869) II. 233 It cannot be packed in any box [etc.]..or any other package, but only in packs of leather or pack-cloth. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xxxvi, The contents of the library were all packed and carried away.
absol.1865Trollope Belton Est. xx. 234 He threw a heap of clothes into a large portmanteau, and set himself to work packing.
b. In Commerce. To prepare and put up in suitable receptacles, so as to preserve fresh or sound for use, or in a form suitable for the market.
An extension of the use in sense 1, as applied to herring, salmon, etc., now used to include the whole process of pickling or otherwise preparing, and tinning or canning, or otherwise putting up, meat, fish, eggs, fruit, and other commodities, so as to preserve them for future or distant sale and consumption. Hence pack n.1 12, packer1 2 b, uses of packing vbl. n.1 and ppl. a., etc.
[1494,1580: see sense 1.] 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 7 The beef being also well pickled or double packed that we might have a sufficient reserve for the length of our voyage. 1831Reg. Deb. Congress U.S. 8 Feb. 133 It is believed that, in Cincinnati alone, there were slaughtered and packed this year one hundred thousand hogs. 1852Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. III. 230 Mullet..are sometimes used as pan-fish, and are packed to a limited extent.
2. a. With up: To put up in a pack or packs.
1530Palsgr. 651/1, I wyll packe up my stuffe... Je pacqueray mes besoignes. 1671R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 498 Thomas Bond has made an end of packing up all the pictures. 1753Foote Eng. in Paris ii. Wks. 1799 I. 52 So pack up a few things, and we'll off in a post-chaise directly. 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. vii. ⁋27, I should be a great fool to pack up my alls when the prize was falling into my hands. 1860Tyndall Glaciers i. xvi. 107 We..packed up our provisions and instruments.
†b. fig. To put up with; to ‘pocket’.
1624T. Scott Votivæ Angliæ D iij b, Too generous sencible and delicate or digest to packe upp the least affront or injurie whatsoeuer.
c. absol. To pack clothes and other necessaries for a journey. Also with up, and used in passive of a person: to have finished packing.
1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 5 They packt up and are also gone after him. c1714Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mrs. Hewet xcviii. 160 One who has nothing at present in her head but packing up. 1906‘O. Henry’ in N.Y. World Mag. 1 July 8/1, I am packed and was to have left for the North Woods this morning. 1907G. B. Shaw John Bull's Other Island i. 28 Doyle: Hodson. Hodson..: Did you call, sir? Doyle: Pack for me too. I'm going to Ireland with Mr. Broadbent. 1912R. Brooke Old Vicarage Grantchester (1916) 10 God! I will pack, and take a train, And get me to England once again! 1958J. Cannan And be a Villain iv. 83 I'm packed, but I must..tell them I'm leaving. 1962J. Braine Life at Top xxii. 248, I turned away without speaking and went upstairs to pack. 1969G. Lyall Venus with Pistol xxxv. 234 We're all packed up. I don't know if I've got all your things in the right bags. 1974J. Johnston How Many Miles to Babylon? 66, I have to catch the Dublin train. I..should go and pack.
d. to pack up (or in) (intr.), to stop working; to give up an enterprise; to surrender; to die; to cease to function; to collapse.
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 219 Pack-up.., To, to stop (as opposed to ‘carry on’). To give up. To finish. To die. 1926E. F. Spanner Naviators i. 8 It was about five in the afternoon when Sir Joseph decided to pack up for the day. 1928C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station xii. 201 To make matters worse another engine packed up, and this increased the stern list of the ship. 1940‘Gun Buster’ Return via Dunkirk ii. xii. 174 The Belgians have packed up... They've laid down their arms. 1948C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident iv. 45 There seemed nothing to stop Toppy unless his voice packed up; so Ted and I left him. 1953W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) vii. 70 He said, ‘We've got to pack in. We can't last with this crowd.’ 1956‘J. Wyndham’ Seeds of Time 87 The laterals aren't firing... I mean they won't fire. They've packed up. 1959‘M. Innes’ Hare sitting Up i. i. 17 The most surprising people will pack up under strain. 1962Economist 3 Nov. 440/2 The Algerians seem to think that Mr Khemisti..broke off the talks as a gesture of solidarity with Cuba. But American reports suggest that it was the State Department itself that decided to pack in. 1967J. L. Anderson Vinland Voyage 90 None of us had much confidence in it [sc. our ancient engine] and it packed up a few days later. 1973A. Broinowski Take One Ambassador i. 14 I'm Mrs Bert Norrice..Mr Norrice passed on last year..Bert's heart packed up. 1977G. Fisher Villain of Piece iv. 40 Where is the nearest telephone?.. It's packed in.
e. to pack up or in (trans.), to stop (doing something), to give up, finish with; freq. in phr. to pack it up (or in), to stop working, abandon an attempt, etc.; also as imp., be quiet, ‘cut it out’, behave yourself. slang and colloq.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §205/4 Stop talking; ‘shut up’,..pack it up. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 50 Pack it up or in, stop talking or fooling; cut it out. 1945J. B. Priestley Three Men in New Suits iv. 104 ‘Pack it up,’ she warned him. 1949‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-Four i. viii. 86 ‘Oh, pack it in!’ said the third man. 1951A. Baron Rosie Hogarth 210 Pack it up, Joyce. I'm telling you. 1951‘N. Shute’ Round Bend 10 It looked as if the public were getting a bit tired of it. Sir Alan packed it up. 1953W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) xii. 121 Every month or so she hires a new lover, gives him shirts and suits and wrist watches, and then packs him in when she has enough. 1959‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder viii. 92, I packed up my job last week... I just told you... I packed in my job last week. 1963N. Hilliard Piece of Land 43 They saw nothing... About eight o'clock they decided to pack it in..headed back for town. 1971B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 47 ‘Why don't you pack in ordering us about, Wally?’ I asked. 1972J. Wilson Hide & Seek viii. 137 Rob Millar didn't finish work until gone eleven, and then decided he'd have to pack it in. 1974K. Clark Another Part of Wood ii. 56 He had long ago ‘packed it in’, and spent his life sitting by the window dozing, with a volume of Pepys' Diary upside down on his knee. 1976News of World 14 Mar. 11/2 He has been ordered to pack in his job and return for the final four weeks of term. 1977Daily Mirror 18 Mar. 24 Hey! You! That's my missus—pack it in!
3. a. To put together closely or compactly; to form into a compact mass or body; to crowd together.
1563Golding Cæsar 122 He was fayne to packe vp his souldiers in lesse roume closer together. 1577Whetstone Gascoigne B iij b, God graunt his woords, within your harts be pact. 1784Cowper Task i. 80 Two citizens who take the air, Close pack'd, and smiling, in a chaise and one. 1864Tennyson En. Ard. 178 Almost as neat and close as Nature packs Her blossom or her seedling. 1887Spectator 15 Oct. 1373 Audiences so packed as to be dangerous.
b. Naut. to pack on all sail: to put on or hoist all possible sail for the sake of speed; to crowd sail. Also absol. in same sense.
1562J. Shute Cambini's Turkish Wars 34 b, The Captaine commaunded to packe on all the sayles. c1594Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 9 Wee might..perceave a ship pack on all the saile they weare able to make after us. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 11 He flies at her with all the Sail he can pack. 1805Nelson in Nicolas Disp. VI. 479, I shall..be ready to pack after them, if they are gone to the Bay. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. xii. (1859) 168 They packed on all sail. 1884H. Collingwood Under Meteor Flag 32 Turn the hands up, and pack on her..discretion is the better part of valour with us just now.
†c. Gardening. To graft in a particular way: see quot. Obs.
1615W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 30 Packing on, is, when you cut aslope, a twig of the same bigness with your graft, either in or besides the knot,..and make your graft agree jump with the cyon, and gash your graft and your cyon in the middest of the wound length-way, a straw breadth deep, and thrust the one into the other..then tye them close.
d. To press (anything loose) into a compact or solid mass.
1850R. G. Cumming Five Yrs. Hunter's Life S. Afr. II. 141 The ground all round was packed flat with their spoor. 1890L. D'Oyle Notches 80, I packed down the snow, and climbed out on to the roof. 1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 134/1 The rain..had but little effect on the heavy dust;..it would probably take a week's constant rain to pack the road hard again.
e. Mining. In the process of washing ore: To cause the denser material or ore to subside to the bottom by striking (the tub or keeve) with mallets or hammers.
1875Ure's Dict. Arts II. 153 The tub is then packed by striking its outside with heavy wooden mallets... The packing hastens the subsidence of the denser portions. Ibid. 154 This tub is packed by machinery... The hammers..are mounted upon iron bars..and violently driven upon the side of the kieve by means of springs.
f. Theatr. Phr. to pack them in: to attract a capacity audience. Also transf.
1943N.Y. Times 9 May ii. 5/4 Harry James and his band have been helping to pack them in at the Paramount. 1970Guardian 31 July 9/3 Bolton's Octagon Theatre..is packing them in for Old Tyme Musical Hall. 1972Ibid. 1 Dec. 11/1 She's still at it at 49; still packing 'em in, and getting the odd rave review. 1977New Statesman 17 June 809/2 His rejigged Radio 4 Today programme is now packing the listeners in.
g. Computers. To compress (stored data) in a way that permits subsequent recovery; spec. to represent (two or more items of data) in a single word. Also absol.
1954Computers & Automation Dec. 18/1 Pack, to combine several different brief fields of information into one machine word. 1959M. H. Wrubel Primer of Programming viii. 189 If the data consist of only a few significant digits, two or more numbers can be ‘packed’ into a single 10-digit word. They will be transferred from the card to the machine as a 10-digit word, which must subsequently be ‘unpacked’ by an appropriate program. 1961L. W. Hein Introd. Electronic Data Processing ix. 165 One of the bad situations is that of the 31-word record in a 60-word fixed record-length computer... A decision to pack means some rather complex programming. 1964IBM Systems Jrnl. III. 125 Decimal digits, packed two to a byte, appear in fields of variable length (from 1 to 16 bytes). 1972Computer Jrnl. XV. 199/1 A stream..might be formed by one stream function which unpacks words into bytes, followed by another one which packs them all up again. 1973[see packed ppl. a.1 1 c].
4. To form into a ‘pack’, in special senses of the n.a. To form (hounds) into a pack;
b. To place (cards) together in a pack;
c. To drive (ice) into a pack: usually passive.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV cclxviii, Soe may Hounds well-pack't Pursue the Prey. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 971 To pack the cards; componere chartas. 1824Parry North West Passage i. 9 A very inconsiderable quantity of loose ice is sufficient to shelter a ship from the sea, provided it be closely packed. c1887M. W. Jones Games Patience ii. 9 As the aces turn out, you place them below these heaps, packing on them at every opportunity. Ibid. xix. 44 You are not bound to pack on the side packets.
5. intr. for refl.
a. To collect into a body; to come together or assemble closely; to crowd together. esp. To collect into or form a pack: said of animals, as wolves, grouse, etc., also of ice in the polar seas: see pack n. 5, 7. Also of a group of runners in a long-distance race.
1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pack, to collect together. 1844in Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1846 (1847) 34 It [sc. cotton] does not pack and becomes hard. 1845Zoologist III. 1170 The young follow their parents in a ‘covey’ till..autumn, when several coveys ‘pack’, i.e. become gregarious. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xvi, Sailors packed close in those days. 1858Geikie Hist. Boulder ii. 10 The ice is then said to pack. 1884Pall Mall G. 12 Aug. 4/1 In the Hebrides the grouse.. will decline to pack. 1887A. W. Tourgée Button's Inn 200 It [sc. the storm] filled the road with a slippery mealy mass, which did not cling or pack. 1890–3E. M. Taber Stowe Notes, Lett. & Verses (1913) 8 The snow packs so readily that I can walk without much difficulty. 1908Westm. Gaz. 27 July 9/3 The failure of the British representatives..was undoubtedly due to their failure to ‘pack’ well.
b. In passive sense: To admit of being packed in a bundle, or pressed into a compact mass.
1846Greener Sc. Gunnery 83 When the small balls did not pack perfectly tight. 1867Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Ser. ii. III. ii. 591 It all takes to pieces, packs up easily. 1939–40Army & Navy Stores Catal. 656/1 Foulard Silk [dressing gown]..of very light weight to pack small. 1946Mod. Lang. Notes LXI. 444 This dress washes and irons and packs easily. 1974Janet Frazer Catal. Spring & Summer 455/2 Pneumatic ‘Igloo’ tent... Packs away compactly.
c. Of the forwards in Rugby football: to form or take their places in the scrummage. Also const. in and down.
1874Rugby Union Football Ann. 1874–5 15 A good forward will..pack in again at the back of the scrummage. 1887M. Shearman Athletics & Football ii. iii. 313 There is many a good scrimmager who packs quickly. 1900A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 252 Be the first to form the scrummage and pack quickly. 1927Wakefield & Marshall Rugger ii. iii. 162 If..his opponents have the right of putting the ball in, he ought to pack opposite their loose-head to be ready to check their scrum-half. 1949Rugby League Football (‘Know the Game’ Series) 31 The front row forward who packs nearest to the referee has what is known as the ‘loose head’. 1968Hudson & Dyer Your Bk. of Rugger v. 49 ‘Number 8’..packs down in between the second row, with his back parallel to the ground and his feet spread evenly apart. 1970G. Slatter On the Ball vi. 139 The scrum packs down on our 25-yard line and Haigh takes the ball.
6. a. trans. To cover, surround, or protect with something pressed tightly around.
1796C. Marshall Garden. viii. (1813) 102 Trees properly packed (i.e. the roots well covered) may live out of ground ten days or a fortnight in autumn. 1882Buckland Notes & Jottings 282 They [beavers] seem to have packed, repaired, and continually attended to the tender places which the stream might make in their engineering. 1890Daily News 26 Dec. 7/1 Navvies are ‘packing’ the line as it crosses the deep valleys which they have..filled up with the chalk and gravel from the cuttings. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 428 If the surgeon be not at hand, the dressing should be ‘packed’, that is pads of absorbent wool bandaged over the points where the discharge appears.
b. Med. In hydropathic treatment: To envelop (the body or a part of it) in a wet sheet or cloth, with or without a dry outer covering.
1849Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 46 The Doctor proposed to ‘pack’ me. 1859Smedley Pract. Hydropathy 43 It is important, in packing,..that the patient be tightly packed in the sheet and blanket. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 345 The diaphoretic methods by packing with woollen blankets or wet sheets are often found to be useful.
c. Surg. To fill, wedge, or cover with a pack. Also absol. to pack off, to wedge (an internal organ) with packs so as to keep it away from a region of interest.
1889Caird & Cathcart Surg. Handbk. vii. 53 The cavity of the nostril may be packed with a long strip of lint. 1897Stimson & Rogers Man. Operative Surg. (ed. 3) i. 28 Much of the hemorrhage can be stopped..by packing with sponges or pads of gauze. 1906H. M. Davies Man. Minor Surgery & Bandaging (ed. 13) ii. 36 Large pieces of gauze..are very convenient for packing off the intestines..from the rest of the abdomen. 1924R. Howard Surg. Emergencies iv. 74 The site of the obstruction should be isolated..by..packing the surrounding intestine off with abdominal pads. 1940R. Maingot Abdominal Operations I. i. ii. 46 The little sinus that remains may be lightly curetted out and packed with gauze which has been soaked in..penicillin. 1955M. G. Lynch in Ochsner & DeBakey Christopher's Minor Surg. (ed. 7) xxi. 499/2 If the hemorrhage is severe..the nose should be packed. 1972Nealon & Grossi in P. F. Nora Operative Surg. i. 7/2 The wound is packed open with gauze over a simple layer of nonadherent material.
7. a. To fill (a receptacle or space) with something packed in (e.g. a bag, box, trunk, etc., with clothes or goods of any kind compactly arranged; a crevice or interstice with something fitting tightly, as in making a vessel air-tight, water-tight, etc.); to cram, stuff. Also with up.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 41 b, You packe up your trunckes, and returne to your former course of exhortation. 1583Leg. Bp. St. Androis Pref. 124 Packand thair penche lyk Epicurians. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 297 The head being often packed up with elastic substances, such as pasteboard, or even cork. 1884G. Allen Philistia II. 75 Ernest had packed his portmanteau. 1910C. E. Mulford Hopalong Cassidy xxxviii. 242 Hall carefully packed his pipe and puffed quickly.
b. transf. and fig. To fill (any space) as full as it will hold; to cram, crowd (with people or with something immaterial). Usually in passive; also predicated of that which occupies the space. Also const. out.
1857–8Sears Athan. xi. 96 [A passage] crowded and packed with meaning. 1886S. G. W. Benjamin in Harper's Mag. LXXII. 463/1 They opened a lane through the crowd that packed the great portal. 1932C. C. Martindale What are Saints? 58, I had to go straight from Wesminster Cathedral..to a church in Chiswick,..packed out with people observing his [sc. St. Edward the Confessor's] feast-day. 1944G. Texidor in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 301 The domain in front of the hotel was packed out with cars and lorries. 1973Times 7 June 15/5 The Rolling Stones couldn't play the Ken Colyer Club one night and The Dimensions appeared instead... It was packed out. 1977D. Clark Gimmel Flask vi. 101 This place is packed out for lunch.
c. to pack them, to hold back diarrhœa caused by nervousness; hence to be terrified. Also with explicit alternative objs. Austral. slang.
1951E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 132 He's packing them badly. He's quite useless. 1952T. A. G. Hungerford Ridge & River iii. 46, I suppose the poor cow would pack 'em a bit. He's on'y a kid, by the look of him. 1959‘D. Forrest’ Last Blue Sea 69 You know something, thought Ron Fisher, you're no good. You're packing them. 1961R. Braddon Naked Island 44 ‘Who's panicking?’ ‘You are, son. Fair packing 'em, y'are.’ 1971D. Ireland Unknown Industrial Prisoner 132 They were packing the shits when he went off his head in the control room last time.
8. To load (a beast) with a pack.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 3 Charles waine is ouer the new Chimney, and yet our horse not packt. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 243 It was I that packed the horses, and led them on the journey. 1894H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 121 The bushrangers..packed a couple of spare horses with what he was likely to require.
9. a. To carry or convey in a pack or packs. Hence, to carry in any manner; to wear habitually; to possess. Also absol.
1805W. Clark Jrnl. 15 Dec. in Lewis & Clark Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Expedition (1905) III. xxi. 280 Proced up the 1st. right hand fork 4 miles & pack the meat from the woods to the canoes. 1816U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1916) XI. 360, I let him know that I..meant to hire a horse of him to pack our provisions. 1845J. C. Frémont Rep. Exploring Expedition 73 It would have been a work of great time and labor to pack our baggage across the ridge. 1850Culbertson in 5th Smithson. Rep. (1851) 91 Joe killed an antelope... We packed the hams and shoulders to camp. 1863S. Butler First Year in Canterbury Settlement v. 61 The back country..is inaccessible by dray, so that all stores..have to be packed in and packed out on horseback. 1874E. Eggleston Circuit Rider vii. 71 My shoes hurts my feet, an' I have to pack one of 'em in my hand most of the time. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 19 The ore..having been packed a distance of ten miles on mules. 1886Fortn. Rev. Jan. 52 The [gold] ‘dust’..filled the buckskin pouches..to such plethoric dimensions as to require the assistance of a sumpter horse to ‘pack’ it down from the mines. 1890N. P. Langford Vigilante Days II. xviii. 282 No man that ever packed a star in this city can arrest me. 1902A. H. Lewis Wolfville Days v. 61 He finds this person ain't packin' no gun. 1903Dialect Notes II. 323, I never did pack a watch. 1913[see heft v.1 1]. 1927Amer. Speech II. 361 He packed the child home. 1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (ser. 1) viii. 200 George Harper..used to pack the wool out on bullocks, three sacks on each. 1940R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely iii. 22 Don't you pack no rod? 1952Picture Post 6 Dec. 37/2 A revival of flogging was in loud demand, and there was the barmaid who insisted she wouldn't feel safe until every policeman packed a gun. 1970C. Wilson Campbell of Yukon ii. 9 Here the cargoes &c have to be ‘packed’ on the men's shoulders from water to water. 1973Washington Post 5 Jan. B3/6 Actress Ali McGraw ‘packs all the glamor of a worn-out sneaker’.
b. To travel with one's goods or merchandise in packs.
1842M. Crawford Jrnl. (1897) 14 Some of the company preparing to pack from here. 1857W. Chandless Visit to Salt Lake ii. vii. 264 Waggoning through the settlements..and thence ‘packing’ to California. 1903S. E. White Forest ii. 15 Do not carry a coat..you will never wear it while packing. 1911J. F. Wilson Land Claimers i. 1 It isn't much fun packing along that trail.
c. To be capable of delivering (a blow) with force; esp. in phr. to pack a punch; also fig. colloq.
1921H. C. Witwer in Collier's 19 Feb. 22/3 He packed a wicked right and had stopped a lot of good men before Kid Roberts cut him short with a one-round knockout. 1922E. O'Neill Hairy Ape (1923) i. 7 He packa da wallop, I tella you!.. No fightin', maties. 1934M. H. Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang 239 Pack a terrific punch, to hit hard, or to have the ability to do so. a1938T. Wolfe Lett. (1956) 45, I think my play ‘The House’ will ‘pack a punch’. 1957Listener 20 June 1008/1 An artist who packs such a violent literary punch might be expected to make use of a savage, expressionist line. 1958Wodehouse Cocktail Time xvi. 137, I take it that she busted you one... These nannies pack a wicked punch. 1971Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. 22/3 Like Kies, he packs a powerful punch, but he does not wade in like Jan. 1973W. M. Duncan Big Timer xxi. 137 That Carver packed a wallop, didn't he? I should have plugged him sooner.
II.
10. refl. and intr. To take oneself off with one's belongings, be off; to go away, depart, esp. when summarily dismissed. †a. refl.[So in Du. zich weg pakken; Plantijn, 1573, has hem wech packen, packt v van hier, packt v t' huys.] 1508Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 442 For fault of puissance, pelour, thou mon pak the. 1601Chester Love's Mart. lxxxiv. (1878) 21 Enuie go packe thee to some forreine soyle. a1634Chapman Alphonsus Plays 1873 III. 255 Pack thee out of my sight. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xi. iv. (1872) IV. 63 Voltaire.. lost no time in packing himself [cf. Germ. sich packen].
b. intr. Also to be (also go) packing. to send packing, to send away, dismiss summarily (= sense 11).
1526Skelton Magnyf. 1797 As for all other let them trusse & packe. 1567Trial Treas. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 294 Will ye be packing, you ill-favoured lout? 1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. 9, I would..send him packing. 1612Chapman Widdowes T. Plays 1873 III. 35 For your owne sake, I advise you to pack hence. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 514 Let us be packing, We'll dwell no longer here; migremus hinc. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xxi, Out I say, pack out this moment. 1842Tennyson Vision of Sin iv. xii, Let the canting liar pack! 1842Browning Pied Piper 32 Sure as fate, we'll send you packing. 1893Stevenson Catriona ii. 13, I had scarce breath enough to send my porter packing. 1926T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars lxxxviii. 468 As both example and guilt were blatant, the others went packing into the far room while their chiefs forthwith executed sentence.
c. Const. off. Also, to die.
1766Sewel & Buys Compl. Dict. Eng. & Dutch I. 549/3 To pack off, (to die) Stërven. 1914W. Owen Let. 15 June (1967) 260 The alternative would be to come home immediately..and at once to pack off to some other part of the world. 1933T. E. Lawrence Let. 10 Aug. (1938) 774, I would like myself and those I care for to pack off all together.
11. trans. To send or drive away, order off, send about his business, dismiss summarily, get rid of. Now usually with off.
1589Rider Bibl. Schol. 1047 To packe, or driue forwarde. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. x. lv. (1612) 243 Lord William Graie..Did with an armie hence pack thence our dangerous neighbour Guise. 1643Lightfoot Glean. Ex. (1648) 24 He was packed away. 1662–3Pepys Diary 19 Jan., My Lord did presently pack his lady into the Country. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 79 They are pretty sure of packing him off to one or other that does not understand them. c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 187 As soon as day-light appeared, I was packed about my business. 1894Norris in Cornh. Mag. Mar. 227 He packed her off to bed at once.
12. to pack a jury, pack cards: see next.
▪ V. pack, v.2
[Origin obscure: cf. pack n.2
The sense, both in vb. and n., suggests some connexion with pact n. (also compact n.1 c); the implication here being however always bad. As to the form, though final -ct is commonly reduced in Sc. and in some mod.Eng. dial. to c or k (e.g. ack, fack, correck, direck, etc.), we have no evidence of such change in Standard Eng. of 16–17th c.; yet a confusion between pact and pack't, pack'd, is conceivable. On the other hand, no connexion is apparent between sense 1 and any sense treated under pack v.1; hence this has been provisionally ranked as a separate word. But the later senses, esp. 4 and 5, appear to arise from a blending of this with pack v.1, with which they are now in feeling associated. So with pack n.2]
†I.
†1. intr. To enter into a private arrangement, to agree in a secret or underhand design; to plot, conspire, scheme, intrigue. Obs.
a1529[see packing vbl. n.2]. 1582Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 97 With two Gods packing one womman sellye to coosen. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 155 Goe packe with him, and giue the mother gold, And tell them both the circumstance of all. 1602Carew Cornwall 14 b, [This want of profit] they impute it partly to the Easterne buyers packing, partly to the owners not venting, and venturing the same.
†2. To bring or let (a person) into a plot, to engage as a confederate or conspirator; in pass. to be an accomplice or confederate in a plot. Obs.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 219 That Goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with her, Could witnesse it. 1599― Much Ado v. i. 308 Margaret..I beleeue was packt in all this wrong, Hired to it by your brother. c1600Day Begg. Bednall Gr. i. ii. (1881) 18 Do you but send away Sir Walter Playnsey, Let me alone to pack the Cardinal.
†3.
a. trans. To contrive or plan (something) in an underhand way; to plot. Obs.
1613[see packing vbl. n.2]. 1614Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue iv. 209 Their Marriage then was neither stoln, nor packt, Nor posted. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. ii. §10 She had purposely before-hand packed and plotted the same [his death]. 1694F. Bragge Disc. Parables xii. 417 Had it been a pack'd business, they would have been careful not to have differed in a tittle.
b. intr. or absol.
1590Nashe Pasquin's Apol. (Gros. I. 225), My Reformer doth nothing but play the Iugler: he packs under-boord, and shewes not how farre forth the Archb. hath affirmed it.
II.
4. To select or make up (a jury or a deliberating or voting body) in such a way as to secure a partial decision, or further some private or party ends. Also, to secure (a particular decision or result) by selecting or arranging the body of voters, etc.
1587Harrison England ii. ii. (1877) i. 53 Grieued, that she had..wrested out such a uerdict against him, and therein packed vp a quest at hir owne choise. 1643[see packed2]. 1665J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 159 What by impannelling of ignorant Jurors, what through packing and suborning Them. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 607 He packt a Jury of dissenting Jews. a1715Burnet Own Time iv. (1724) I. 626 All people saw the way for packing a Parliament now laid open. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 98 He had packed the courts of Westminster Hall in order to obtain a decision in favour of his dispensing power. Ibid. viii. 317 Having determined to pack a parliament, James set himself energetically and methodically to the work. 1925A. Toynbee Survey Internat. Affairs 1920–23 80 In order to prevent any possiblity of ‘packing’ the vote, the date of residence was not fixed..as the day when the Treaty came into force, but as the day when it was signed. 1932Ann. Reg. 1931 ii. 275 China... Together with others from the Canton faction they issued a manifesto declaring that the elections to the Convention would be a fiasco, that the Convention would be ‘packed’ by Chiang, and that its whole purpose was to seat him more firmly in the dictatorship. 1955Times 26 May 8/3 The Minister had tried to cloak the Bill with respectability but this had to be seen against his earlier statements about ‘packing’ the courts and the Senate. 1965Mod. Law Rev. XXVIII. 517 He was not above packing the House in order to curb such activities. 1973Black Panther 14 Apr. 12/2 The Supreme Court is being systematically packed despite the defeat of Carswell and Haynesworth. 1976Daily Tel. 24 Apr. 2/6 Vauxhall Labour party is to meet..to investigate allegations that the general management committee is being improperly ‘packed’ with members to ensure the selection of a merchant banker to succeed the present MP.
5. To arrange or shuffle (playing cards), so as to cheat or secure a fraudulent advantage. Hence fig., to pack cards with (any one), to make a cheating arrangement with. (Cf. sense 1.) Obs. or arch.
1599Minsheu Sp. Dict., Barajar, to packe cards, to shuffle cards. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xiv. 19 Shee, Eros has Packt Cards with Cæsars, and false plaid my Glory Vnto an Enemies triumph. 1615Bacon Sp. about Undertakers Wks. 1879 I. 498/1 Some shall be thought practisers that would pluck the cards, and others shall be thought papists that would shuffle the cards... The king were better call for a new pair of cards, than play upon these if they be packed. 1667Denham Direct. Paint. iv. ix. 11 in Third Collect. Poems 19/2 How to pack Knaves 'mongst Kings and Queens. 1753Scots Mag. Oct. 492/1, I learned to pack cards and to cog a dye. 1890McCarthy French Revol. II. 76 The poor King tried..to pack cards with fortune. 1927Amer. Speech II. 352/2 They packed the deal on the other players. |