A plot of land, usually a division of a larger area.
A quantity of merchandise offered for sale.
A group or company; a pack: "this youthful parcel of noble bachelors"(Shakespeare).
tr.v.
par·celed also par·celled, par·cel·ing also par·cel·ling, par·cels also par·cels
To divide into parts and distribute: parceled out the land to their three children.
To make into a parcel; package.
Nautical To wind protective strips of canvas around (rope).
[Middle English, from Old French, portion, from Vulgar Latin *particella, diminutive of Latin particula, diminutive of pars, part-, part; see perə-2 in Indo-European roots.]
c.1303, "part" (sense preserved in phrase parcel of land), from O.Fr. parcelle "small piece, particle, parcel," from V.L. *particella, dim. of L. particula, dim. of pars (gen. partis) "part" (see part). Meaning "package" is first recorded c.1645. The verb meaning "to divide into small portions" is from 1584.
Par"cel\, n. [F. parcelle a small part, fr. (assumed) LL. particella, dim. of L. pars. See Part, n., and cf. Particle.]1. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part. [Archaic] "A parcel of her woe." --Chaucer. Two parcels of the white of an egg. --Arbuthnot. The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government. --J. A. Symonds. 2. (Law) A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece. 3. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group. This youthful parcel Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing. --Shak. 4. 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.
Par"cel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Parceledor Parcelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Parceling or Parcelling.]1. 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. 2. 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. 3. 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.
Par"cel\, a. & adv. 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.
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