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See also:PACK (apparently from the See also:root pak-, paq-, seen in See also:Lat. pangere, to fasten; cf. " compact ") , primarily a bundle or See also:parcel of goods securely wrapped and fastened for transport . The word, in this sense, is chiefly used of the bundles carried by pedlars . It was in See also:early use, according to the New See also:English See also:Dictionary, in the See also:wool See also:trade, and may have been introduced from the See also:Netherlands . As a measure of See also:weight or quantity the See also:term has been in use, chiefly locally, for various commodities, e.g. of wool, 240 lb, of See also:gold-See also:leaf 20 books of 25 leaves each . In a transferred sense, a " See also:pack " is a collection or gathering of persons, animals or things; and the verb means generally to gather together in a compact See also:body . " Pack-See also:ice " is the floating ice which covers wide areas in the polar seas, broken into large pieces which are driven (packed) together by See also:wind and current so as to See also:form practically a continuous See also:sheet . " Packet," a small parcel, a diminutive of " pack," was first confined in meaning to a parcel of despatches carried by a See also:post, especially the See also:state despatches or " See also:mail "; and " packet " properly " packet-See also:boat," was the name given to the vessels which carried these state despatches . |
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