pack
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pæk/
ipa: [pʰæk]
homophone: PAC
rhymes: -æk
Forms: form: packs
Etymology: From Middle English pak, pakke, from Old English *pæcca and/or Middle Dutch pak, packe; both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pakkō, from Proto-Germanic *pakkô (“bundle, pack”).
Cognate with Dutch pak (“pack”), Low German Pack (“pack”), German Pack (“pack”), Swedish packe (“pack”), Icelandic pakka, pakki (“package”).
Senses: examples: text: The horses carried the packs across the plain.
text: We do not ask him to make up his mind, but to make up his pack.
ref: 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Slavery in Massachusetts:
glosses: 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.
glosses: A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack
examples: text: a pack of lies
text: a pack of complaints
glosses: A multitude.
glosses: A number or quantity of connected or similar things; a collective.
examples: text: We were going to play cards, but nobody brought a pack.
glosses: A full set of playing cards
examples: text: cut the pack
glosses: The assortment of playing cards used in a particular game.
examples: text: African wild dogs hunt by sight, although stragglers use their noses to follow the pack.
ref: 2005, John D. Skinner, Christian T. Chimimba, The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion:
glosses: A group of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 117:
glosses: A wolfpack: a number of wolves, hunting together.
examples: text: They form extremely tight flocks, which carpet the ground, giving rise to the descriptive name of "a pack" of knots.
ref: 1988, Michael Cady, Rob Hume, editors, The Complete Book of British Birds, page 154:
glosses: A flock of knots.
examples: text: a pack of thieves
text: "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."
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 240:
text: 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.
ref: 1976, Freda Adler, Herbert Marcus Adler, Sisters in Crime: The Rise of the New Female Criminal, page 100:
glosses: A group of people associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang.
glosses: A group of Cub Scouts.
glosses: A shook of cask staves.
glosses: A bundle of sheet iron plates for rolling simultaneously.
examples: text: The ship had to sail round the pack of ice.
text: 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 […]
ref: 1863, Charles Kingsley, The Water Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby:
glosses: A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: 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: text: That stupid pack did nothing but stare at us throughout the whole project.
glosses: A loose, lewd, or worthless person.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
pool
snooker
sports
glosses: A tight group of object balls in cue sports. Usually the reds in snooker.
examples: text: The captain had to take a man out of the pack to replace the injured fullback.
text: If the pack wasn't pummelling England, Handre Pollard kept delivering telling blows.
ref: 2019 November 3, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rugby
sports
glosses: The forwards in a rugby team (eight in Rugby Union, six in Rugby League) who with the opposing pack constitute the scrum.
qualifier: roller derby
glosses: The largest group of blockers from both teams skating in close proximity.
examples: text: “Carlo, I told you that three packs a day would kill you long before I was gone.”
glosses: A package of cigarettes.
Synonyms: sense: full set of cards
word: deck
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: ahead of the pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: airpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: artpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: backpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: bagpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: battery pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: beltpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: bipack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: blister pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: bobbery pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: body pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: bodypack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: booster pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: bowl pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: brick pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: brickpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: bubble pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: buddy pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: case pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: cold pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: coursepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: day pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: daypack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: digipak
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: disk pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: doublepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: Duluth pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: dye pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: eight pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: eight-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: expansion pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: face pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: fanny pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: flash pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: flat pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: flatpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: forepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: framepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: froth pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: fun pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: giftpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: glasspack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: halal snack pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: hardpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: haul-pack truck
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: hip pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: hosepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: hoverpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: ice pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: jam-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: jet pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: jetpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: jet-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: joker in the pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: mailpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: manpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: megapack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: midpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: minipack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: modpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: mod pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: mudpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: multipack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: naughty-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: overpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack animal
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-away
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packboard
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packcloth
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packery
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack horse
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packhorse
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-horse
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packhound
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack hound
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packhouse
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack ice
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-in
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack journalism
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack journalist
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packless
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packlike
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack lunch
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packmaker
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packmaking
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packman
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packmate
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack mentality
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack of cards
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack of lies
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packraft
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-rat
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack rat
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packsack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packsaddle
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packsheet
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-shepherd
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packshot
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packstaff
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packstone
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packthread
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack train
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-train
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-up
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-up kit
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packware
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packway
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack year
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: packyear
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: pack-year
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: photo pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: piddle pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: portage pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: power pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: prepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: presspack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: press pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: ram-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: RAM pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: rat pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: retropack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: rocket-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: rocket pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: samplepack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: scene pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: service pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: six pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: six-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: six-pack bezique
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: six-pack of rolls
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: snowpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: starter pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: stim pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: subpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: tripack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: vac pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: vacuum pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: wolf-pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: wolf pack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: woolpack
sense: Terms derived from pack (noun)
word: X-pack