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packets

 - 3 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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pack·et   (pāk'ĭt)   
n.  
  1. A small package or bundle.

  2. Informal A sizable sum of money.

  3. A boat, usually a coastal or river steamer, that plies a regular route and carries passengers, freight, and mail.

  4. A short block of data transmitted in a packet switching network.


[Middle English pekette, probably diminutive of pak, pack; see pack1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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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