packthread

plural packthreads · alternative pack-thread

1. archaiccountableuncountableA strong thread or twine used in tying up parcels.

   It was tied with pink packthread instead of ribbon.

   1895, Susan Coolidge, A Little Country Girl

   3 more examples

   Eighty Poles, each of one Foot high, were erected for this purpoſe, and very ſtrong Cords of the bigneſs of Packthread were faſtned by Hooks to many Bandages, which the Workmen had girt round my Neck, my Hands, my Body, and my Legs.

   1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 20

   The Hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, fastened with metal clamps, moored with iron anchors, and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped to pieces like packthread.

   1867, John Lothrop Motley, Project Gutenberg History of The Netherlands, 1555-1623, Complete

   In lieu of buckles at his knees, he wore unequal loops of packthread; and in his grimy hands he held a knotted stick, the knob of which was carved into a rough likeness of his own vile face.

   1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge