English
pack
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /pæk/, [pʰæk]
Noun

pack (plural packs)

  1. A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back, but also a load for an animal, a bale.
    The horses carried the packs across the plain.
  2. A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack
  3. A multitude.
    a pack of lies
    a pack of complaints
  4. A number or quantity of connected or similar things; a collective.
  5. A full set of playing cards
    We were going to play cards, but nobody brought a pack.
  6. The assortment of playing cards used in a particular game.
    cut the pack
  7. A group of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together.
    • 2005, John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba, The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion‎
      African wild dogs hunt by sight, although stragglers use their noses to follow the pack.
  8. A wolfpack: a number of wolves, hunting together.
  9. A group of people associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang.
    a pack of thieves
  10. A group of Cub Scouts.
  11. A shook of cask staves.
  12. A bundle of sheet iron plates for rolling simultaneously.
  13. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.
    The ship had to sail round the pack of ice.
  14. (medicine) An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.
  15. (slang): A loose, lewd, or worthless person.
  16. (snooker, pool) A tight group of object balls in cue sports. Usually the reds in snooker.
  17. (rugby) The forwards in a rugby team (eight in Rugby Union, six in Rugby League) who with the opposing pack constitute the scrum.
    The captain had to take a man out of the pack to replace the injured fullback.
Translations Translations Translations Verb

pack (packs, present participle packing; past and past participle packed)

  1. (physical) To put or bring things together in a limited or confined space, especially for storage or transport.
    1. (transitive) To make a pack of; to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack
      to pack goods in a box;  to pack fish
      • 1712, Joseph Addison, The Spectator Number 275
        strange materials wound up in that shape and texture, and packed together with wonderful art in the several cavities of the skull
      • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:
        Where, for these many hundred years, the bones
        Of all my buried ancestors are packed
    2. (transitive) To fill in the manner of a pack, that is, compactly and securely, as for transportation; hence, to fill closely or to repletion; to stow away within; to cause to be full; to crowd into.
      to pack a trunk;  the play, or the audience, packs the theater
    3. (transitive) To wrap in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings.
      The doctor gave Kelly some sulfa pills and packed his arm in hot-water bags.
    4. (transitive) To make impervious, such as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without allowing air, water, or steam inside.
      to pack a joint;  to pack the piston of a steam engine;  pack someone's arm with ice.
    5. (intransitive) To make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.
    6. (intransitive) To form a compact mass, especially in order for transportation.
      the goods pack conveniently;  wet snow packs well
    7. (intransitive, of animals) To gather together in flocks, herds, schools or similar groups of animals.
      the grouse or the perch begin to pack
    8. (transitive, historical) To combine (telegraph messages) in order to send them more cheaply as a single transmission.
  2. (social) To cheat.
    1. (transitive, card games) To sort and arrange (the cards) in the pack to give oneself an unfair advantage
      • 1733 Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
        Mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown.
    2. (transitive) To bring together or make up unfairly, in order to secure a certain result.
      to pack a jury
      • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An answer to some considerations on the spirit of Martin Luther and the original of the Reformation
        The expected council was dwindling into […] a packed assembly of Italian bishops.
    3. (transitive) To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot.
      • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The church-history of Britain
        He lost life […] upon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies.
    4. (intransitive) To ut together for morally wrong purposes; to join in cahoots.
      • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5 Scene 1
        This naughty man / Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, / Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong, / Hired to it by your brother.
  3. (transitive) To load with a pack
    to pack a horse
  4. (transitive, figurative) to load; to encumber.
    • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:
      our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey
  5. To move, send or carry.
    1. (transitive) To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; especially, to send away peremptorily or suddenly; – sometimes with off. See pack off.
      to pack a boy off to school
      • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene 1]:
        Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven.
    2. (transitive, US, Western US) To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. e., on the backs of men or animals).
    3. (intransitive) To depart in haste; – generally with off or away.
      • 1723, Jonathan Swift, Stella at Wood-Park
        Poor Stella must pack off to town.
      • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, Dora
        You shall pack, / And never more darken my doors again.
    4. (transitive, slang) To carry weapons, especially firearms, on one's person.
  6. (transitive, sports, slang) To block a shot, especially in basketball.
  7. (intransitive, rugby, of the forwards in a rugby team) To play together cohesively, specially with reference to their technique in the scrum.
  8. (intransitive, LGBT slang, of a drag king, transman, etc.) To wear a prosthetic penis inside one’s trousers for better verisimilitude.
Synonyms
  • (To sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly) stack
Antonyms Translations

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