pack

English Online Dictionary. What means pack‎? What does pack mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pæk/, [pʰæk]
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

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”).

Noun

pack (plural packs)

1. 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.
2. A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack
3. A multitude.

4. A number or quantity of connected or similar things; a collective.
5. A full set of playing cards

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

7. A group of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together.
8. A wolfpack: a number of wolves, hunting together.
9. A flock of knots.
10. A group of people associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang.
11. A group of Cub Scouts.
12. A shook of cask staves.
13. A bundle of sheet iron plates for rolling simultaneously.
14. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.

15. (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.
16. (slang) A loose, lewd, or worthless person. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
17. (snooker, pool) A tight group of object balls in cue sports. Usually the reds in snooker.
18. (rugby) The forwards in a rugby team (eight in Rugby Union, six in Rugby League) who with the opposing pack constitute the scrum.
19. (roller derby) The largest group of blockers from both teams skating in close proximity.

Synonyms

• (full set of cards): deck

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English pakken, from the noun (see above). Compare Middle Dutch packen (“to pack”), Middle Low German packen (“to pack”).

Verb

pack (third-person singular simple present packs, present participle packing, simple past and past participle packed)

1. (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
   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.
   3. (transitive) To wrap in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings.

   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.

   5. (intransitive) To make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.
   6. (intransitive) To form a compact mass, especially in order for transportation.

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

   8. (transitive, historical) To combine (telegraph messages) in order to send them more cheaply as a single transmission.
2. (social) To cheat.
   1. (transitive, card games) To sort and arrange (the cards) in the pack to give oneself an unfair advantage
   2. (transitive) To bring together or make up unfairly, in order to secure a certain result.
   3. (transitive) To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot.
   4. (intransitive) To put together for morally wrong purposes; to join in cahoots.
3. (transitive) To load with a pack

4. (transitive, figurative) to load; to encumber.
5. 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.
   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).
   3. (intransitive) To depart in haste; – generally with off or away.
   4. (transitive, slang) To carry weapons, especially firearms, on one's person.

   5. (intransitive, LGBTQ, 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.
6. (transitive, sports, slang) To block a shot, especially in basketball.
7. (intransitive, rugby, of the forwards in a rugby team) To play together cohesively, specially with reference to their technique in the scrum.

Synonyms

• (To sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly): stack

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “make into a pack”): unpack

Derived terms

Translations

Chinese

Etymology

From English pack.

Pronunciation

Classifier

pack

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) Classifier for packs (bundles) of objects.

Verb

pack

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to pack up

References

• Bauer, Robert S. (2021) ABC Cantonese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 788

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English pack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pak/

Noun

pack m (plural packs)

1. pack (item of packaging)
2. pack ice
3. (sports) a rugby team

Further reading

• “pack”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Noun

pack

1. Alternative form of pak

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English pack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛk(i)/

Noun

pack m (invariable)

1. (colloquial, euphemistic) sexual photos and videos sold over the internet

Scots

Adjective

pack

1. intimate; confidential

Derived terms

• packness

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English pack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpak/ [ˈpak]
• Rhymes: -ak
• Syllabification: pack

Noun

pack m (plural packs)

1. pack, package
2. kit, set, bundle
3. (colloquial, euphemistic) sexual photos and videos, paid or not, sent over internet, network social; sexting photos

Swedish

Noun

pack n

1. (derogatory) socially despised people; scum, trash, (when related to low social class) dregs, riffraff, etc.

2. stuff, things, luggage; only used in pick och pack

Declension

Descendants

• → Finnish: pakka

See also

• avskum
• bottenskrap
• drägg
• kräk
• packa
• paket
• pöbel
• slödder

References

• pack in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pack in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• pack in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)