pack

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(păk) pronunciation
n.
    1. A collection of items tied up or wrapped; a bundle.
    2. A container made to be carried on the body of a person or animal.
  1. The amount, as of food, that is processed and packaged at one time or in one season.
  2. A small package containing a standard number of identical or similar items: a pack of matches.
    1. A complete set of related items: a pack of cards.
    2. Informal. A large amount; a heap: earned a pack of money.
    1. A group of animals, such as dogs or wolves, that run and hunt together.
    2. A gang of people: a pack of hoodlums.
    3. An organized troop having common interests: a Cub Scout pack. See synonyms at flock1.
  3. A mass of large pieces of floating ice driven together.
  4. Medicine.
    1. The swathing of a patient or a body part in hot, cold, wet, or dry materials, such as cloth towels, sheets, or blankets.
    2. The materials so used.
    3. A material, such as gauze, that is therapeutically inserted into a body cavity or wound; packing.
  5. An ice pack; an ice bag.
  6. A cosmetic paste that is applied to the skin, allowed to dry, and then rinsed off.

v., packed, pack·ing, packs.

v.tr.
  1. To fold, roll, or combine into a bundle; wrap up.
    1. To put into a receptacle for transporting or storing: pack one's belongings.
    2. To fill up with items: pack one's trunk.
  2. To process and put into containers in order to preserve, transport, or sell: packed the fruit in jars.
    1. To bring together (persons or things) closely; crowd together: managed to pack 300 students into the lecture hall.
    2. To fill up tight; cram.
  3. Medicine.
    1. To wrap (a patient) in a pack.
    2. To insert a pack into a body cavity or wound.
  4. To wrap tightly for protection or to prevent leakage: pack a valve stem.
  5. To press together; compact firmly: packed the clay and straw into bricks.
  6. Informal. To carry, deliver, or have available for action: a thug who packed a pistol; a fighter who packs a hard punch.
  7. To send unceremoniously: The parents packed both children off to bed.
  8. To constitute (a voting panel) by appointment, selection, or arrangement in such a way that it is favorable to one's purposes or point of view; rig: "In 1937 Roosevelt threatened to pack the court" (New Republic).
v.intr.
  1. To place one's belongings in boxes or luggage for transporting or storing.
  2. To be susceptible of compact storage: Dishes pack more easily than glasses.
  3. To form lumps or masses; become compacted.
idiom:

pack it in Informal.

  1. To cease work or activity: Let's pack it in for the day.

[Middle English pak, possibly of Low German origin.]

packability pack'a·bil'i·ty n.
packable pack'a·ble adj.

sign description: Both hands move inward in a repeated motion.




verb
verb

1:
trans. To be armed with. (1902 —) .
R. Chandler Don't you pack no rod? (1940).

2:
intr. To be armed with a gun. (1953 —) .
Premier I worked with rappers who pack guns...As long as he ain't packin', I'm straight (2001).

[From earlier sense, to carry with one.]


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