| 释义 |
▪ I. parcel, n.|ˈpɑːsəl, ˈpɑːs(ə)l|
Forms: α. 4–6 parcelle, 5–6 -cele, 4–8 -cell, (5–7 passell, 9– dial. passel |ˈpæsəl|, pasel, passle, pazil), 6 parsel, -syll, 4– parcel. β. 4–7 percel(l, 6 persell.
[a. F. parcelle = Pr. parcela, Pg. parcella, It. particella:—L. type *particella, dim. of particula, dim. of pars, part-em part.]
A. n.
I.
1. a. gen. A part, portion, or division of anything (material or immaterial), considered separately, as a unit; a small part, a particle. arch.
by parcels: by parts, a part at a time, piecemeal.
c1368Chaucer Compl. Pite 106 What nedeth to shewe parcel of my peyne? c1391― Astrol. i. §12 A certein parcelle of the body of a man. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vii, Where as Naso recordeth..But percell eke of the vnkyndnesse Of this Jason. 1459in Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 193 Chargyng my said sonne..that he never clayme parcell ne part thereof. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. Prol. (1539) 2 That there be no parcell thereof loste. 1628Prynne Lovelockes 9 Those onely suffer a little part and parcell of their Haire to growe long. 1692Ray Disc. ii. v. (1732) 226 A great Parcel of the Earth is every year carried into the Sea. 1794Godwin Cal. Williams 242 They took up the detached parcels of my miserable attire. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) p. xxxi, Truth more complete than the parcel of truth any momentary individual can seize. 1879Ruskin Lett. to Clergy 37 The insinuation of having committed the smallest parcel of them [sins].
b. A constituent or component part, one of the parts or members (of something), something included in a whole: emphasizing comprehension in the whole, rather than partitive character. (Often without article.) arch. (exc. as in c.)
of a parcel with: of a piece with, consonant with.
1414Rolls of Parlt. IV. 60/1 The fees of his seal, which is parcel and partie of his sustenance. 14..26 Pol. Poems (E.E.T.S.) 51/16 Þe leste lygeman wiþ body and rent, He is a parcel of þe crowne. 1570T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 204 To praise and magnify God's goodness..is parcel of the worshipping of God. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. i. §3 That nothing parcel of the world is denied to man's inquiry and invention. 1784Cowper Task v. 247 Being parcel of the common mass. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 275 Franchises..which were originally parcel of the royal prerogative. 1871Swinburne Songs bef. Sunrise, Litany of Nations 95 Till the soul of man be parcel of the sunlight.
c. Phrase part and parcel: see part n. 18.
†d. Share, allotted portion. Obs.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 50 Luyte [B. litel] loueþ he þat lord þat leneþ him þat Blisse, Þat þus parteþ with þe pore A parcel whon him neodeþ. 1393Ibid. C. xxiii. 289 Þei shal ȝeue þe freres A parcel to preye for hem and maken hem murye With þe remenant of þe good. a1400–50Alexander 4318 Þe pouert of oure persons for plente we hald, Þe quilke is part vs, all þe pake be parcells euyn.
†e. A part of the world, of a country, etc.: = part n. 13. Obs. rare.
1582Stanyhurst æneid, etc. iii. (Arb.) 85 How beyt theese parcels in sayling must be refused. Ibid., Conceits ii. 136 Wheare barcks haue passed, with cart's that parcel is haunted [in winter].
† f. Part (in a play, etc.), rôle. Obs. rare.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3055 In lordes courtes þou pleyest þi parcel.
2. spec.
a. A portion or piece of land; esp., in Law of Real Property, as part of a manor or estate. (Often without article.)
[1321Rolls of Parlt. I. 387/1 Tenant de dis parceles de terre.] 1449Paston Lett. I. 93 On lese then that he sel a parcel of his land. 1539Bible (Great) 1 Chron. xi. 13 And there was there a parsell of grounde full of barleye. 1604in Eng. Gilds (1870) 433 For that parcell he shall agree with the lord for his years rent. 1611Bible John iv. 5 A city of Samaria..neere to the parcell of ground that Iacob gaue to his sonne Ioseph. 1642tr. Perkins' Prof. Bk. iii. §226. 100 A parcell of an acre of land. 1720Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 108 Owners of certain parcels of Land. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Twiford, In this town is a parcel of ground, said to be in the county of Wilts. 1883C. Sweet Law Dict., Parcel, in the Law of Real Property, signifies a part or portion of land. Thus, every piece of Copyhold land forms parcel of the manor to which it belongs. 1897Act 60 & 61 Vict. (Land Transfer Act) c. 65. §14 (2) Regard being had to ready identification of parcels.
b. A small portion, item, instalment, of a sum of money; a small sum. Now rare or Obs.
1491Hen. VII. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 172 The said summe of ten pounds and every parcell therof. 1524Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading 20 For the bequest of Pokeriges wife in parcel of a more Sma..vjs. viijd. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 110 To credite him with a small parcell of money in dispatch of a iourney. 1590Recorde, etc. Gr. Artes (1646) 202 The parcels of these foure Merchants made in one summe 240 pounds. 1755in Fowler Hist. C.C.C. (O.H.S.) 287 [The College received the] last Parcel of Lord Coleraine's Legacy.
†c. A small portion or passage of a book, esp. a sacred book, as the Bible or the Koran. Obs. (or merged in 1.)
1570T. Norton tr. Nowel's Catech. (1853) 173 This parcel, ‘the communion of saints’, doth somewhat more plainly express [etc.]. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663) 120 He..took the Bible, opened it, and happened upon this parcel of Scripture. 1636Featly Clavis Myst. xiv. 185 The parcell of Scripture whence I have taken my text. 1655E. Terry Voy. E. Ind. 264 The Mahometan priests..read some parcells out of their Alcoran, upon Frydays.
†d. Arith. A term of a progression. Obs. rare.
1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 213 Tell how many numbers there are (whiche numbers here [in progression] wee call places or parcels).
†e. Gram. A particle. Obs.
1571Golding Calvin on Ps. viii. 4 This parcell (Chi) among the Hebrewes importeth as much as (Quia) in Latin, which signifyeth (by cause) in English.
†3. Each of the definite parts or units which make up a complex whole (material or immaterial); an item, detail, particular, point; esp. an item of an account. Obs.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 135 Liste and I salle rede þe parcelles what amountes If any man in dede wille keste in a countes. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xiv. 38 Þe parcels of hus paper and oþer pryuey dettes Wol lette hym. c1468Paston Lett. II. 332 Ples yow to send me passels of costes and expences ȝe bere and pay for the said causez. 1509Fisher Fun. Serm. Hen. VII Wks. (1876) 279 The fourth percell of his complaynt. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 159. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. viii. (1642) 513 No Herald could draw downe a better Pedegree, were it possible to prove the parcels.
4. a. A separate portion of a material or substance (rarely of something immaterial); a small piece, particle; a (small or moderate) quantity or amount; a lot. Obs. exc. as in b and c.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. iii. (1859) 4 The Centre was veray derke, withoute ony parcel of clereness. c1548Hall Chron. Hen. VIII 51 We finde in a corner..a great persell of bloud. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth ii. 67 Such undiscover'd parcels of fire, as lie fix'd and imprison'd in hard bodies. 1734Swift Let. Wks. 1824 XVIII. 255, I prophesied a fine parcel of weather from yesterday: but I was deceived. 1757A. Cooper Distiller i. ii. (1760) 15 Being thus loosely mixed with a moderate Parcel of the Liquor. 1830Kater & Lardner Mech. iii. 32 An inanimate parcel of matter is incapable of changing its state of rest or motion.
b. Mining: see quots.
1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Parcel, Corn., a heap of dressed ore ready for sale. 1883Gresley Gloss. Terms Coalmining, Parcel (S. Staff), an old term for a ton; really 27 cwts. 1887R. Hunt Brit. Mining (ed. 2) 911/2 A parcel of ore is a pile or heap of copper or lead ore dressed for sale. 1898Barrier Weekly Post 29 Oct. 13 [They] received satisfactory prices for their parcels. 1903Eng. Dial. Dict., Parcel (Cornw.), a quantity of tin stone of a certain weight and uniform quality. 1958M. D. Berrington Stones of Fire 20 They gradually collected a ‘parcel’ of choice stones. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. viii. 119/1 Increase in the price of gold resulted in renewed activity in 1935 and a certain amount of prospecting and development ensued for over a decade, though apparently only one parcel of 400 tons was treated.
c. dial. A small quantity of new-mown hay spread out to dry.
1863Barnes Gloss. Dorset s.v. Haÿmeäken, On the following morning the..cocks are thrown abroad in passels—parcels—which, after being turned, are in the evening put up into large ridges—weäls.
†5.
a. One of several parts into which a thing is broken or divided; a fragment, piece. Obs.
1686Burnet Trav. ii. (1750) 94 They piece their broken Pots so close..without any Cement, by sowing with Iron Wire the broken Parcels together. 1688Stradling Serm. (1692) 186 To join and re-unite the scattered parcels. 1783Ainsworth Lat. Dict. (Morell) iv. s.v. Absyrtes, Being busied in gathering up the parcels of his son's body.
†b. fig. (Usually contemptuous.) Obs.
1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. vii, I muse, your parcell of a souldier returnes not all this while. 1599― Cynthia's Rev. ii. i, What parcel of man hast thou lighted on for a Master? 1609Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. v. (1862) 27 Get some fragments of French, or small parcels of Italian, to fling about the table.
6. a. A small party, company, collection, or assemblage (of persons, animals, or things); a detachment; a group, lot, set; a drove, flock, herd. Obs. exc. dial. and U.S. colloq., or as in b.
In earlier instances prob. always implying a portion of a larger body or of a whole, but eventually losing this implication.
[c1449Pecock Repr. (Rolls) II. 438 Ech Apostle was heed of oon certeyn parcel of peple.] 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 160 A holy parcell of the fairest dames that euer turn'd their backes to mortall viewes. 1615Sir T. Roe Jrnl. in Churchill Voy. (1704) I. 767/2 [Penguins] do not fly, but only walk in parcels. 1689Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 604 When the English horse went, they went but in parcells. 1712Steele Spect. No. 326 ⁋5 A parcel of Crows..heartily at Break-fast upon a piece of Horse-flesh. 1775Romans Florida App. 34 A parcel of dangerous sunken heads called the Hen and Chickens. 1780A. Young Tour Irel. I. 96 Sheep are kept in small parcels. 1841Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xlviii. 128 One day, a parcel of them were run upon so suddenly by the Choctaws. 1895Emerson Man & Nat. 89 (E.D.D.) The arrival and passing over of a parcel of linnets.
dial. and U.S. colloq.1835A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes 195 ‘How did you come on raisin' chickens this year, Mis' Shad?’ ‘La Messy, honey! I have had mighty bad luck. I had the prettiest pasel you most ever seed till the varment took to killin 'em.’ 1865W. B. Forfar Kynance Cove vii. 43 She ax'd about 'n a fine passle more than she wud ef he'd ben a stranger. 1871E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster 169 A passel of thieves. 1881Atlantic Monthly June 740/1 A passel o' folks. 1889T. E. Brown Manx Witch 16 She knocked two dishes And a pazil of plates there off the dresser. 1890S. S. Buckman John Darke's Sojourn in Cotteswolds ii. 6 Lor, thur wur quite a passel o' volk altogither. 1893H. A. Shands Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi 49 Passle (pæsel). Used to some extent by all classes, but principally by the uneducated, to mean a parcel, not in the sense of a small bundle or a small quantity, but in that of a considerable number; as, ‘There was a whole passle of hogs in the yard’; i.e. there were a good many. The word has, perhaps, a somewhat larger meaning than a good many, but denotes less than a multitude. This word is used in Kentucky, but is becoming rare there. 1903K. D. Wiggin Rebecca xix. 202 Then you can explain, if you can, who gave you any authority to invite a passel of strangers to stay here overnight. 1906Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 264 'Twas a passel o' nonsense talk. 1935Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. vii. 151 A man had a wife and a whole passle of young 'uns. 1936[see no-'count a.]. 1948Sun (Baltimore) 3 Dec. 14/2 Who wants to gamble that a passel of bureaucrats in a planned economy could have shown similar bounce in the face of adversity? 1957W. C. Handy Father of Blues vi. 80 We had to absorb a ‘passel’ of oratory of the brand served by some Southern politicians just this side of the turn of the century. 1972M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha iii. 134 ‘He'll forget,’ I declared, thinking of the wives and the passel of kids. 1973Science 12 Jan. 162/1 But the AAAS did succeed in having a passel of young activists evicted from the meeting's main registration area. 1973D. Westheimer Going Public iv. 54 How'd you like to make yourself a passel of money without hardly havin' to do any work? 1977Time 20 June 47/2 She plays a small rancher who pools her resources with neighboring Land-owner James Caan to fight off greedy Cattle Baron Jason Robards and a passel of oil companies lusting after their range land.
b. In depreciative or contemptuous use: A ‘lot’, ‘set’, ‘pack’.
1607Middleton Michaelm. Term iii. i. 167 You parcel of a rude, saucy, and unmannerly nation. 1702Addison Dial. Medals iii. Wks. 1721 I. 533 Of great use..to let posterity see their forefathers were a parcel of blockheads. 1758L. Temple Sketches (ed. 2) 76 Born Lyars; who tell you every Day very seriously a Parcel of insipid unmeaning Lies. 1778F. Burney Evelina xiv, I think the English a parcel of brutes. 1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets vii. (1870) 172 Making a parcel of wry faces over the matter. 1881‘Rita’ My Lady Coquette i, I'm not going to be lectured by a parcel of girls.
7. a. A quantity of anything or a number of things (esp. goods) put together or wrapped up in a single package (usually of moderate or small size); an item of goods in carriage or postage; a package: now chiefly used of packages wrapped in brown paper. bill of parcels: see bill n.3 6.
[a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 148 Basketts with old plate,..and bokes conteyning the valewe and wayte of every parcell. c1645Howell Lett. IV. xlvi, I Receiv'd that choice parcel of Tobacco your servant brought me.] 1692Oxford Almanack in Wood's Life (1848) 162 For the carriage of the greatest parcel, (all being to be esteemed parcels under one quarter of an hundred weight,) one shilling. 1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5330/3 The General Penny-Post-Office..where Letters and Parcels will be taken in as usual. 1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesman i. (1841) I. 6 He sees the bills of parcels of goods bought. 1820W. Huntingdon in Q. Rev. (1821) XXIV. 484 A shoemaker..told me a parcel was left there for me... I opened it, and behold there was a pair of leather breeches. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. ii, The youngest Miss Pecksniff ran out again to pick up his hat, his brown-paper parcel, his umbrella, his gloves. 1897Paper parcels [see paper n. 10 a].
b. transf. and fig. Cf. bundle 3.
1785Reid Intell. Powers Man ii. x. 285 What I call a father, a brother, or a friend, is only a parcel of ideas in my own mind. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. xii. (1869) 246 It is true I can..rake up a parcel of half-forgotten observations. 1842A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 73 A continuation of the circular fibres of the gullet, which divide into two parcels.
c. Comm. A quantity (sometimes definite) of a commodity dealt with in one transaction; esp. in the wholesale market: a ‘lot’.
1832McCulloch Comm. Dict. (1852), Parcel, a term indifferently applied to small packages of wares, and to large lots of goods. In this latter sense, 20 hogsheads of sugar or more, if bought at one price, are denominated ‘a parcel of sugar’. 1882Times 19 July 13 At to-day's cloth market..considerable parcels of winter stock were taken for Italy, Austria [etc.]. 1897Daily News 17 Feb. 11/4 Cocoa.—At public sale to-day the parcels offered went off freely at dearer prices.
d. A large amount of money gained or lost. slang.
1903A. M. Binstead Pitcher in Paradise vii. 172 ‘Aye, it's a pinch for t'pair of 'em, y'r Graace’, roared Old Jack, with much warmth; ‘an' what's moo-re, if y'r Graace doesn't pack oop a reglar parcel over 'em, why—why, A'al never speak to y'r Graace on a racecourse agin!’ 1922E. Wallace Flying Fifty-Five x. 56 In the argot of his kind he had ‘packed up a parcel’ over the disqualification of Fifty-Five. 1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xii. 131 ‘But if you haven't dropped a parcel over the race,’ I said, ‘why are you looking so rattled?’ Ibid. xiv. 162, I think I can put you in the way of winning a parcel on the Mothers' Sack Race.
8. Law. (pl.) The name given to that part of a conveyance, lease, or other deed dealing with property, which follows the operative words, and contains the description of the property dealt with; in the case of lands, generally beginning with such words as ‘All that piece or parcel of land’, etc.; forming the last of the clauses called the premisses.
1766Blackstone Comm. II. App. No. ii. (margin). 1837T. Martin Conveyancing II. 84 Of Parcels. 1844Davidson Conveyancing Introd. §7 Of Parcels. The word ‘parcel’..seems to have been originally applied, in the sense of ‘a piece’, to land only [see sense 2], but in modern usage the expression ‘parcels’ is used to signify the description of the property, be it what it may. 1882C. Sweet Law Dict.
9. Naut. = parcelling vbl. n. 4 b.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1632/2 Parcel (Nautical), a wrapping of tarred canvas on a rope to prevent chafing.
II. attrib. and Comb.
10. Ordinary attributive uses and combinations, chiefly in sense 7, as parcel book, parcel boy, parcel company, parcel lift, parcel man, parcel office, parcel porter, parcel van; parcel-carrying, parcel-packing, parcel-tying ns. and adjs.; parcel bomb, a bomb wrapped up so as to resemble a parcel; parcel-carrier, one who or that which carries a parcel; spec. a basket or case slung from a cable, etc. for transporting parcels; parcel(s) delivery, the action of, or an agency for, delivering parcels (also attrib.); † parcel ground, a ‘parcel’ of land (see 2 a); † parcel-like (-lyk), adv. , ? in part, partly (= parcelly adv. 2); parcel paper, stout paper, usually brown and unsized, made or used for wrapping parcels; parcel(s) shelf, tray, a shelf or tray upon which parcels may be placed, esp. in a motor vehicle; parcel tanker, a vessel designed to carry various liquids with separate piping and tanks; parcel-wise adv., by ‘parcels’ or portions, bit by bit, piecemeal. See also parcel-maker, parcel post.
1950Times 22 Aug. 3/1 Injured by *parcel bomb. A small parcel addressed to Mr. Thomas Rose..blew up when he opened it on Sunday night. 1966‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive iv. 44 There's a dozen ways—prussic acid..the parcel bomb. 1974Guardian 25 Jan. 24/5 Police scientific experts are examining the remains of a parcel bomb which exploded in an Israeli bank in the City of London yesterday. 1977New Society 27 Jan. 163/3 The weekend parcel⁓bomb murder of Jason Moyo.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Parcel-book, a merchant's register book of the dispatch of parcels.
1897Daily News 13 Dec. 8/4 By day these Boys are errand boys, *parcel boys, van boys, office boys.
1893Westm. Gaz. 19 Sept. 3/1 The railway companies..fancied..that this new development of Post Office enterprise would destroy their *parcel-carrying business.
1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. xv. 125 At present there are a great number of *parcel companies.
1844Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 291 Send me some books by the *parcels delivery. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Parcels Delivery Company, a company in London which receives, and delivers by vans, packages and small parcels over the metropolis. 1892Daily News 14 Oct. 5/3 Tips to omnibus men and parcels delivery men are unknown in London.
1632Lithgow Trav. iv. 166 If these Timariots were not rewarded, with such absolute possessions of *parcell grounds.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Parcel Lift, a dumb waiter used in stores and warehouses.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 9759 Ffor, ffyrst, the sowle pryncypally Susteneth & bereth the body; And *parcel-lyk..The body bereth by accident The sowle. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 26 The rest of time hath he in part and parcell like so disposed and ordred of Nature to lay holde on.. the other life above this.
1882Ogilvie, *Parcel-office, a place where parcels are received for delivery.
1827Edin. Rev. XLV. 429 Some have a..*parcel-packing action.
1951Motor 2 May 386/3 There are two useful *parcel shelves unobtrusively located beneath the front seat cushions. 1953Motor 9 Dec. 728/3 Large cases..have to be lifted over a somewhat high rear bulkhead, and then slid forward into place below the rear parcels shelf. 1973Country Life 31 May 1547/2 Stowage capacity is also good for a large car... There is..a useful parcel shelf. 1974‘J. Ross’ Burning of Billy Toober i. 9 He placed the pipe in the parcels shelf. 1976Chrysler World of Motoring '77 15/4 With the parcel shelf folded away, and the rear seat folded flat, you've suddenly got 49 cu. ft.
1973Sea Breezes May 297/1 The typical modern purpose-built *parcel tanker is a complex and expensive investment. 1974Times 31 May (Poseidonia Suppl.) p. iii/4 Parcel tankers have been developed which have the ability to carry incompatible chemicals in separate tanks.
1950Motor 19 Apr. 372/3 There is a *parcel tray of generous size below the instrument panel. 1956Motor 24 Oct. 525 (caption) Air for de-misting this window is blown through the slots seen here on the parcel tray.
1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 59 A pence-counting, *parcel-tying generation, such as mostly fill your chapels.
1647Trapp Comm. Heb. ix. 8 The mystery of Christ was manifested piecemeal and *parsel-wise. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. II. xxi. 45 Looking at life parcel-wise.
B. adv. or quasi-adv. or adj. [Cf. similar use of part, part-.]
1. In part, partly, partially, in some degree, to some extent.
†a. qualifying vb. or phrase. Obs.
c1402Lydg. Compl. Bl. Knt. 224 The salte teres that fro myn eyen falle, Parcel declare grounde of my peynes alle. c1420― Thebes Prol., Chaucer's Wks. (1561) 356 b/1 To morowe early..we will forthe, parcell afore prime. 1430–40― Bochas viii. xxvii. (1558) 13 b, Parcell for pride, parcel for gladnesse.
b. qualifying adjs., as parcel blind, parcel deaf, parcel drunk, parcel Greek, parcel guilty, parcel Latin, parcel mad, parcel Popish, etc. Also parcel-gilt. Obs. since 17th c., but revived by Scott and used by later writers.
In these often hyphened; but properly so only when the adj. is used attrib. Cf. part-, half-.
1465[see parcel-gilt]. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster v. iii, Parcel-guilty, I. 1609Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. ii. (1862) 12 Their parcel-Greek, parcel-Latin gibberish. 1618Fletcher Chances iv. iii, She is parcell drunke. a1661Fuller Worthies, Somerset. (1662) 19 The Author..being parcel-popish. 1826Scott Woodst. iv, The worthy dame was parcel blind, and more than parcel deaf. 1854Athenæum 1 Apr. 399 The humour, parcel jocose, parcel stupid. 1873F. Hall Mod. Eng. i. 23 Penny-a-liners and such parcel-learned adventurers have had their fellows in every age. 1897W. C. Hazlitt Ourselves 26 Our Church is a mixed institution, parcel-divine, parcel-terrestrial.
c. qualifying ns., as parcel ass, parcel bawd, parcel broker, parcel devil, parcel heresy, parcel lawyer, parcel poet, parcel Protestant, parcel soldier, etc. Also with vbl. ns. Obs. since 17th c., till revived by Scott.
Often hyphened, but properly so only when it has an adj. force, as in quots. 1602, a 1661, c 1665, 1672, 1867.
1602Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 235 Nay and thou dost, the Parcell-poets shall sue thy Wrangling Muse. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. i. 63 He Sir: a Tapster Sir: parcell Baud: one that serues a bad woman. 1608Day Hum. out of Br. i. i, True, shee's parcell poet, parcell fidler already. 1610B. Jonson Alch. iv. vi, That parcell-broker, and whole-bawd, all raskall. 1611L. Barrey Ram Alley i. i. in Hazl. Dodsley X. 275 Parcel lawyer, parcel devil, all knave. 1640Habington Queen of Arragon 1, Who vents him For ought but parcell-asse may be in danger. a1661Fuller Worthies, Yorksh. (1662) 213 He was at the least a Parcell-Protestant. c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1848) 135 He..then, I know not how, got to be a parcel-judge in Ireland. 1672Sir C. Wyvill Triple Crown 70 Friar Pedro has mark'd them with the black Coal of parcel Heresie. 1820Scott Abbot iv, He was a jester and a parcel poet. 1829― Jrnl. 25 Apr., A ventriloquist and parcel juggler came in. 1849Ticknor Span. Lit. I. 242 note, The principal personage is Marcelia,—parcel witch, wholly shameless. 1867Lowell Study Wind. (1870) 95 Gilbert, Hawkins, Frobisher and Drake, parcel-soldiers all of them. 1867[see parcel-gilding]. 1902A. H. Hiorns Metal-Colouring & Bronzing (ed. 2) iii. 243 (heading) Parcel coppering or bronzing as applied to fine zinc castings. 1907Handbk. Electro-Plating (W. Canning & Co.) (ed. 3) 64 (heading) Parcel-plating. Plating articles in two or three colours. 1911S. Field Princ. Electro-Deposition xii. 175 Partial deposition..is, in the case of copper, called parcel coppering. 1925Field & Bonney Chem. Coloring of Metals xiii. 166 ‘Parcel plating’..is applicable to all deposited metals. 1971T. C. Collocott Dict. Sci. & Technol. 855/2 Parcel plating, the electrodeposition of a metal over a selected area of an article, the remainder being covered with a nonconductor in order to prevent deposition.
†2. ellipt. = parcel-gilt. (Nares.) Obs.
1613Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb iv. iii, The Turkey carpet, And the great parcel salt, Nan, with the cruets.
Add:[I.] [4.] d. Diamond Trade. A packet of mixed diamonds offered together for sale.
1902G. F. Williams Diamond Mines S. Afr. xvii. 511 The daily productions of diamonds are put away in parcels until there is an accumulation of about 50,000 carats of De Beers and Kimberley diamonds. 1931G. Beet Grand Old Days Diamond Fields 148 Should a digger have a ‘parcel’ to dispose of without delay, he knew that by going straight to Robinson's office he would receive the immediate and courteous attention of the principal. 1963H. Kemelman Whistling Tea Kettle in Nine Mile Walk (1968) 124, I knew a diamond merchant who..carried a fortune in unmounted stones in little folds of paper—parcels he called them. 1976W. Greatorex Crossover 162 He couldn't let this parcel of first-quality gems slip through his hands.
e. Sci. A small volume of fluid, forming part of a larger body of the same fluid but either considered as a discrete element of it (in mathematical calculations) or physically extracted from it as a sample.
1970F. W. Cole Introd. Meteorol. viii. 163 We assumed that the vertical motion of a parcel (or layer) involved no compensating vertical motion in the parcel's surroundings, and that no mixing occurred between the parcel and its environment. 1977I. M. Campbell Energy & Atmosphere viii. 251 Consider a parcel of air near the ground attempting to rise. 1979Nature 20 Sept. 185/2 Studies of SO2 in polluted air parcels suggest an atmospheric lifetime of about a day. 1982Sci. Amer. Oct. 126/3 Because the magnetic liquid is attracted to regions of higher field intensity a parcel of ferrofluid near the rod must have work done on it for it to be moved away from the rod. 1989Nature 27 July 269/2 The researchers conclude that parcels of air from the edge of the decaying vortex carried cold, ozone-poor polar air over Australia.
▪ II. parcel, v.|ˈpɑːsəl, ˈpɑːs(ə)l|
[f. parcel n. Cf. mod.F. parceller to divide into parcels or very small portions. The connexion of sense 3 is not apparent, and it is perhaps a distinct word.]
1. trans. To divide or distribute into ‘parcels’ or (small) portions. (Usually with out.)
1584–5in T. West Antiq. Furness (1774) 160 Devydinge, percellinge, and porcioninge of tenements. 1610Willet Hexapla Dan. 319 H. Broughton..doth thus parcell out the yeares. 1639Fuller Holy War v. iii. (1840) 245 Whose verdict we will parcel into these several particulars. 1727Pope, etc. Art of Sinking 114 Divided into several branches, and parcelled out to several trades. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 532 The empire..was parcelled into twelve grand divisions. 1840Dickens Old. C. Shop xv, The mean houses parcelled off in rooms. 1885Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 77 §16 Tracts of land to be parcelled out in allotments.
b. To distribute in parcels or lots.
1699Burnet 39 Art. xxii. (1700) 242 St. Stephen's and St. James's Bones might have been then parcelled about. 1863Ld. Lytton Ring Amasis I. i. i. 21 Before nightfall we shall be parcelled off to our different destinations.
†c. To put asunder or separate as parts; to part, divide. Obs.
1652J. Hall Height Eloq. p. lxxii, Things being scatter'd and parcell'd one from another can never close into any Height.
2. To make into a parcel or parcels, to put up in parcels.
1775Ash, Parcel,..to make up into a small bundle. c1887J. Croll in J. C. Irons Autobiog. Sk. (1896) 70 Learned in the mechanical art of weighing and parcelling up the tea. 1898Daily Chron. 24 Sept. 10/6 Girls..wanted for parcelling card-board boxes.
3. Naut.
a. To cover (a caulked seam, etc.) with canvas strips and daub with pitch.
b. To wrap (a rope) round with canvas strips or parcelling (to be then bound with spun yarn).
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 13 Parsling is most vsed vpon the Decks and halfe Decks; which is, to take a list of Canuas so long as the seame is you would parsell, being first well calked, then powre hot pitch vpon it, and it will keepe out the water. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. xx, The Bolt-heads, &c., being fairly parcelled. 1775N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 54 These rings were parcelled with canvas, and served with inch rope. 1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc., Parcel a rope, in Naval language, to cover it smoothly with tarred canvass, which is then bound over with spun-yarn. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1632/2 Usually, the rope is wormed, then parcelled, and then served. 1875Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. x. (ed. 2) 360 Three men can worm, parcel, and serve 2 fathoms of 12-inch in an hour.
⁋In the following passage the vb. has been variously but not satisfactorily explained. Johnson took it as ‘To make up into a mass’; Schmidt, ‘To enumerate by items, specify’. Cf. quot. 1594 in parcelled below.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 163 O Cæsar, what a wounding shame is this,..that mine owne Seruant should Parcell the summe of my disgraces, by Addition of his Enuy.
Hence parcelled, parceled |ˈpɑːsəld| ppl. a., divided into parcels, parts, or portions, distributed, etc.: see the verb. In first quot. opposed to general: Schmidt explains it as ‘particular’.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, ii. ii. 81 Was neuer Mother had so deere a losse. Alas! I am the Mother of these Greefes, Their woes are parcell'd, mine is generall. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccxxxiv, Not liveing Men, but as fixt Statues grew; Polisht by English Swords; cut into halfes And parcell'd faces. a1716South Serm. (1744) XI. 289 There was no building any solid confidence upon a parcelled, curtailed obedience. 1887W. G. Palgrave Ulysses 162 The waving emerald of the parcelled rice-field.
▪ III. parcel, parcelay
obs. forms of parsley. |