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Packet boat

 - 2 dictionary results

pack⋅et

[pak-it]
–noun
1. a small group or package of anything: a packet of letters.
2. Also called packet boat, packet ship. a small vessel that carries mail, passengers, and goods regularly on a fixed route, esp. on rivers or along coasts.
3. Cards. a part of a pack of cards after being cut.
4. Informal. a large amount of money.
5. British Slang.
a. a painful blow or beating.
b. misfortune or failure.
–verb (used with object)
6. to bind up in a package or parcel.

Origin:
1520–30; < MF pacquet, equiv. to pacqu(er) to pack 1 + -et -et


1. See package.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

packet 
1530, from M.E. pak "bundle" (see pack (n.)) + dim. suffix -et; perhaps modified on Anglo-Fr. pacquet (M.Fr. pacquet), which is ult. a dim. of M.Du. pak. A packet boat (1641) was originally one that carried mails.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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