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.

   1 more example

   We do not ask him to make up his mind, but to make up his pack.

   1854, Henry David Thoreau, Slavery in Massachusetts

2. A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack
3. A multitude.

   a pack of lies

   1 more example

   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.

   Synonyms: deck

6. The assortment of playing cards used in a particular game.

   cut the pack

7. collectiveA group of hounds or dogs, hunting or living together.

   African wild dogs hunt by sight, although stragglers use their noses to follow the pack.

   2005, John D. Skinner, Christian T. Chimimba, The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion

8. collectiveA group of wolves, hunting together.

   If I hurried down to the river, he said, I should be sure to fall in with a pack of wolves, for just as he was driving up the hill close to the sound, they started up the river on the ice.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 117

   Synonyms: wolfpack

9. A flock of knots.

   They form extremely tight flocks, which carpet the ground, giving rise to the descriptive name of "a pack" of knots.

   1988, Michael Cady, Rob Hume, editors, The Complete Book of British Birds, page 154

10. A group of people associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang.

    a pack of thieves

    2 more examples

    "She will try, for she does not know that it is you who dropped the tallow on the shirt; but that can only be done by Christian folks, and not by a pack of trolls like we have in this place; and so I will say that I will not have anybody else for a bride except the one who can wash the shirt clean, and I know you can do that."

    1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 240

    In London there are some thirty gangs of “bovver birds,” violence-prone girls who roam the streets in packs attacking almost any vulnerable object for no apparent reason other than the sheer thrill of it.

    1976, Freda Adler, Herbert Marcus Adler, Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal, page 100

11. A group of Cub Scouts.
12. A shook of cask staves.
13. A bundle of sheet iron plates for rolling simultaneously.
14. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.

    The ship had to sail round the pack of ice.

    1 more example

    And now they came to the edge of the pack, and beyond it they could see Shiny Wall looming, through mist, and snow, and storm. But the pack rolled horribly upon the swell, and the ice giants fought and roared, and leapt upon each other's backs, and ground each other to powder […]

    1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby

15. medicineAn envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.
16. slangA loose, lewd, or worthless person.

    That stupid pack did nothing but stare at us throughout the whole project.

17. ball gamesA tight group of object balls in cue sports. Usually the reds in snooker.
18. ball gamesThe 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.

    1 more example

    If the pack wasn't pummelling England, Handre Pollard kept delivering telling blows.

    2019 November 3, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times

19. roller derbyThe largest group of blockers from both teams skating in close proximity.
20. slangA package of cigarettes.

    “Carlo, I told you that three packs a day would kill you long before I was gone.”

present singular third person packs · participle present packing · participle past packed · past packed

1. To put or bring things together in a limited or confined space, especially for storage or transport.
   1. physicaltransitiveTo 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

      2 more examples

      strange materials wound up in that shape and texture, and packed together with wonderful art in the several cavities of the skull

      1712, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 275

      Where, for these many hundred years, the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed

      c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   2. physicaltransitiveTo 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

      2 more examples

      By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

      1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court

      The mix of ballet vocabulary, modern techniques and African steps is familiar, but the extent to which Mr. Rhoden packs — and overpacks — phrases, cultivates warp-speed delivery and hyperextends every possible hip jut and arabesque is, thank goodness, something special to Complexions.

      2007 November 23, Claudia La Rocco, “Ballet and African Steps, Delivered at Warp Speed”, in The New York Times

   3. physicaltransitiveTo 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. physicaltransitiveTo 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. intransitivephysicalTo make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.
   6. intransitivephysicalTo form a compact mass, especially in order for transportation.

      the goods pack conveniently;  wet snow packs well

   7. intransitivephysicalTo gather together in flocks, herds, schools or similar groups of animals.

      the grouse or the perch begin to pack

   8. historicalphysicaltransitiveTo combine (telegraph messages) in order to send them more cheaply as a single transmission.
   9. physicaltransitivecomputingTo compress (data).
2. To cheat.
   1. transitivesocialcard gamesTo sort and arrange (the cards) in the pack to give oneself an unfair advantage

      Mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown.

      1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC

      Synonyms: stack

   2. transitivesocialTo bring together or make up unfairly, in order to secure a certain result.

      to pack a jury

      1 more example

      The expected council was dwindling into[…]a packed assembly of Italian bishops.

      1687, Francis Atterbury, An answer to some considerations on the spirit of Martin Luther and the original of the Reformation

   3. transitivesocialTo contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot.
   4. intransitivesocialTo put together for morally wrong purposes; to join in cahoots.

      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.

      1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

3. transitiveTo load with a pack.

   to pack a horse

4. figurativelytransitiveTo load; to encumber.

   our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

5. To move, send or carry.
   1. transitiveTo 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

      1 more example

      Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven.

      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 I, scene i]

   2. USWesterntransitiveTo transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (on the backs of men or animals).
   3. intransitiveTo depart in haste; – generally with off or away.

      Poor Stella must pack off to town.

      1723, Jonathan Swift, Stella at Wood-Park

      1 more example

      You shall pack, / And never more darken my doors again.

      1842, Alfred Tennyson, Dora

   4. slangtransitiveTo carry weapons, especially firearms, on one's person.

      packing heat

      1 more example

      A: What was he packing? B: He was packing an M1911 with a custom large-capacity magazine.

   5. ambitransitiveslangprogressive aspectTo have a large penis, as if carrying a large weapon on one's person.

      Wow, get a load of him — he's packing.

   6. especiallyintransitiveTo wear an object, such as a prosthetic penis, inside one’s trousers to appear more male or masculine.

      I am a butch bisexual woman […] Frequently I like to appear as masculine as I can, often passing for male on the street. […] Sometimes I pack when I go out, putting my dildo in my pants and wearing my dick out of the house.

      1995, Robin Sweeney, “Too Butch to Be Bi (or You Can't Judge a Boy by Her Lover)”, in Naomi Tucker, Liz Highleyman, Rebecca Kaplan, editors, Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, and Visions, Binghamton: The Haworth Press, →ISBN, page 181

6. slangtransitivehobbiesTo block a shot, especially in basketball.
7. intransitiveball gamesTo play together cohesively, specially with reference to technique in the scrum.