Parcel

Pronunciation

• enPR: pärʹ-sÉ™l, IPA: /ˈpÉ‘rsÉ™l/
• AU IPA: ˈpÊ°aː.səɫ
• UK IPA: ˈpʰɑː.səɫ
• US IPA: ˈpʰɑɹ.səɫ
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)sÉ™l
• Hyphenation: par + cel

Origin

From Old French parcelle ("a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle"), from Medieval Latin particella, contr. parcella ("a parcel"), dim. of Latin particula ("particle"), diminutive of pars ("part, piece").

Full definition of parcel

Noun

1. A package wrapped for shipment.
• 1905, w, w:The Case of Miss Elliott Chapter 2, “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. â€¦â€
2. I saw a brown paper parcel on my doorstep.
3. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
4. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.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.
• ShakespeareThis youthful parcel
  Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing.
• Herman Melville, OmooA parcel of giddy creatures of her own age.
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.
• Arbuthnottwo parcels of the white of an egg
• J. A. SymondsThe parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government.
9. A certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.

Synonyms

• (package wrapped for shipment) package
• (division of land bought and sold as a unit) plot

Derived terms

• parcel bomb
• parcel out
• parcel post
• parcel together
• parcel up
• parcellate
• parcellation
• part and parcel
• pass the parcel

Related terms

• part
• particle
• particular
• particulate

Verb

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 out or into.
• ShakespeareTheir woes are parcelled, mine are general.
• DrydenThese ghostly kings would parcel out my power.
• Tennysonthe broad woodland parcelled into farms
4. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
• ShakespeareThat mine own servant should
  Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
  Addition of his envy.

Adverb

1. (obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.
• Sir Walter ScottThe worthy dame was parcel-blind.
• TennysonOne that ... was parcel-bearded.

Anagrams

• carpel
• placer