Definition of "pack"

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.  quotations  examples

A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack  examples

A multitude.  examples

A number or quantity of connected or similar things; a collective.  examples

A full set of playing cards  examples

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

A group of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together.  quotations  examples

A wolfpack: a number of wolves, hunting together.  quotations  examples

A flock of knots.  quotations  examples

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

A group of Cub Scouts.  examples

A shook of cask staves.  examples

A bundle of sheet iron plates for rolling simultaneously.  examples

A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.  examples

(medicine) An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.  examples

(slang) A loose, lewd, or worthless person.

(snooker, pool) A tight group of object balls in cue sports. Usually the reds in snooker.  examples

(rugby) The forwards in a rugby team (eight in Rugby Union, six in Rugby League) who with the opposing pack constitute the scrum.  quotations  examples

(roller derby) The largest group of blockers from both teams skating in close proximity.  examples

(physical) To put or bring things together in a limited or confined space, especially for storage or transport.

1. (transitive) To make a pack of; to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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 bonesOf 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, [Act IV, scene iii]

2. (transitive) To 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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

3. (transitive) To wrap in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings.  examples

4. (transitive) To 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.  examples

5. (intransitive) To make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.  examples

6. (intransitive) To form a compact mass, especially in order for transportation.  examples

7. (intransitive, of animals) To gather together in flocks, herds, schools or similar groups of animals.  examples

8. (transitive, historical) To combine (telegraph messages) in order to send them more cheaply as a single transmission.

(social) To cheat.

1. (transitive, card games) To sort and arrange (the cards) in the pack to give oneself an unfair advantage  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown.

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

2. (transitive) To bring together or make up unfairly, in order to secure a certain result.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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. (transitive) To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “He lost life […] upon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies.”, in James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], new edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837

4. (intransitive) To put together for morally wrong purposes; to join in cahoots.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, [Act V, scene i]

(transitive) To load with a pack  examples

(transitive, figurative) to load; to encumber.  quotations  examples

To move, send or carry.

1. (transitive) To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; especially, to send away peremptorily or suddenly; – sometimes with off. See pack off.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, [Act I, scene i]

2. (transitive, US, chiefly Western US) To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (on the backs of men or animals).  examples

3. (intransitive) To depart in haste; – generally with off or away.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Poor Stella must pack off to town.

     1723, Jonathan Swift, Stella at Wood-Park

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

     1842, Alfred Tennyson, Dora

4. (transitive, slang) To carry weapons, especially firearms, on one's person.

5. (intransitive, LGBT, especially of a trans man or drag king) To wear an object, such as a prosthetic penis, inside one’s trousers to appear more male or masculine.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, page 181

(transitive, sports, slang) To block a shot, especially in basketball.

(intransitive, rugby, of the forwards in a rugby team) To play together cohesively, specially with reference to their technique in the scrum.  examples