What does "parcel" mean?
Parcel: (Law) A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.
Additional senses
- 2.An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group. This youthful parcel Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing. Shak.
- 3.A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle; a package; a packet. 'Tis like a parcel sent you by the stage. Cowper. Bill of parcels. See under 6th Bill. -- Parcel office, an office where parcels are received for keeping or forwarding and delivery. -- Parcel post, that department of the post office concerned with the collection and transmission of parcels. -- Part and parcel. See under Part.
- 4.To divide and distribute by parts or portions; -- often with out or into. "Their woes are parceled, mine are general." Shak. These ghostly kings would parcel out my power. Dryden. The broad woodland parceled into farms. Tennyson.
- 5.To add a parcel or item to; to itemize. [R.] That mine own servant should Parcel the sum of my disgraces by Addition of his envy. Shak.
- 6.To make up into a parcel; as, to parcel a customer's purchases; the machine parcels yarn, wool, etc. To parcel a rope (Naut.), to wind strips of tarred canvas tightly arround it. Totten. -- To parcel a seam (Naut.), to cover it with a strip of tarred canvas.
- 7.Part or half; in part; partially. Shak. [Sometimes hyphened with the word following.] The worthy dame was parcel-blind. Sir W. Scott. One that . . . was parcel-bearded [partially bearded]. Tennyson. Parcel poet, a half poet; a poor poet. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00