Wiktionary

parcel

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English parcel, from Old French parcelle (“a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle”), from Late Latin particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of partem (“part, piece”). Doublet of particle.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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parcel (plural parcels)

  1. A package wrapped for shipment.
    Synonym: package
    I saw a brown paper parcel on my doorstep.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
      At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.
    • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
      “H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what […] will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday […] that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth. […] ”
  2. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
  3. An individual item appearing on an invoice or receipt (only in the phrase bill of parcels).
  4. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.
    Synonym: plot
    I own a small parcel of land between the refinery and the fish cannery.
  5. (obsolete) A group of birds.
  6. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
  7. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
  8. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
    A certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.
    • 1731, John Arbuthnot, chapter 4, in An essay concerning the nature of aliments‎[1], London: J. Tonson, page 85:
      The same Experiments succeed on two Parcels of the White of an Egg […]
    • 1881, John Addington Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy, Volume 5, Part I, New York: Henry Holt, Chapter 1, p. 2,[2]
      The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government, sought divers foreign alliances.
    • 1982 April 3, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower”, in Gay Community News, page 15:
      I don't think we are sitting pretty / So far away from our fair city / But I love you more than any parcel of earth.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Verb

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parcel (third-person singular simple present parcels, present participle parceling or parcelling, simple past and past participle parceled or parcelled)

  1. To wrap something up into the form of a package.
  2. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.
    Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
  3. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; often with off, out or into.
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      Their woes are parcell’d, mine are general.
    • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 12:
      Thoſe ghoſtly Kings would parcel out my pow’r, / And all the fatneſs of my Land devour;
    • 1806, [Thomas Maurice], Indian Antiquities: Or, Dissertations Relative to the Antient Geographical Divisions, […] of Hindostan: […] , volume I. Containing the Dissertation on the Antient Geographical Divisions of Hindostan, London: Printed […] by C. & W. Galabin […] and sold by John White […] , pages 231–232:
      Hindostan was then parcelled out into twelve grand divisions, called soobahs, to each of which a viceroy was assigned, by the title of Soobahdar, corruptly written Soobah by European writers; for, soobah signifies province: many of these soobahs were in extent equal to large European kingdoms.
    • 1864, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, etc.‎[3], London: Edward Moxon, pages 94–95:
      Then the great Hall was wholly broken down, / And the broad woodland parcell’d into farms;
  4. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.

Translations

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Adverb

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parcel (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Czech

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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parcel

  1. genitive plural of parcela

Danish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French parcelle (“parcel”), from Late Latin particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of partem (“part”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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parcel c (singular definite parcellen, plural indefinite parceller)

  1. parcel, lot (subdivided piece of land registred independently in official records)
  2. (informal) detached house
    Synonym: parcelhus

Declension

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Declension of parcel
common
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative parcel parcellen parceller parcellerne
genitive parcels parcellens parcellers parcellernes

Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: par‧cel

Noun

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parcel m (plural parcéis)

  1. a shoal, a sandbank
    Synonyms: vau, vado, baixo, baixio, esparcel, restinga, sirte
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