Parcel

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive), Adverb
• HYPHEN: par=cel

CIDE DICTIONARY

Parcel, n. [F. parcelle a small part, fr. (assumed) LL. particella, dim. of L. pars. See Part, n., and cf. Particle.].

•  A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Two parcels of the white of an egg."  [1913 Webster]

  "The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government."  [1913 Webster]
•  A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.  [1913 Webster]
•  An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.  [1913 Webster]

  "This youthful parcel
  Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing."  [1913 Webster]
•  A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle; a package; a packet.  [1913 Webster]

  "'Tis like a parcel sent you by the stage."  [1913 Webster]

Bill of parcels. See under 6th Bill. -- Parcel office, an office where parcels are received for keeping or forwarding and delivery. -- Parcel post, that department of the post office concerned with the collection and transmission of parcels; also, the transmission through the parcel post deparment; as, to send a package by parcel post. See parcel post in the vocabulary. -- Part and parcel. See under Part.

Parcel, v. t. 

•  To divide and distribute by parts or portions; -- often with out or into.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "These ghostly kings would parcel out my power."  [1913 Webster]

  "The broad woodland parceled into farms."  [1913 Webster]
•  To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.  [1913 Webster]

  "That mine own servant should
  Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
  Addition of his envy."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make up into a parcel; as, to parcel a customer's purchases; the machine parcels yarn, wool, etc.  [1913 Webster]

To parcel a rope (Naut.), to wind strips of tarred canvas tightly arround it. Totten. -- To parcel a seam (Naut.), to cover it with a strip of tarred canvas.

Parcel, a. & adv. 

 Part or half; in part; partially.  [1913 Webster]
"The worthy dame was parcel-blind."  [1913 Webster]
"One that . . . was parcel-bearded [partially bearded]."  [1913 Webster]

Parcel poet, a half poet; a poor poet. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Parcel, n. & v.
--n.
1 a goods etc. wrapped up in a single package. b a bundle of things wrapped up, usu. in paper.
2 a piece of land, esp. as part of an estate.
3 a quantity dealt with in one commercial transaction.
4 archaic part.
--v.tr. (parcelled, parcelling; US parceled, parceling)
1 (foll. by up) wrap as a parcel.
2 (foll. by out) divide into portions.
3 cover (rope) with strips of canvas.

Idiom

parcel post the branch of the postal service dealing with parcels.

Etymology

ME f. OF parcelle ult. f. L particula (as PART)

THESAURUS

Parcel

a certain number, a few, a number, acres, adjunct, allocate, allot, amount, apportion, array, assign, bag, bale, barrel, basket, batch, bind up, bindle, body, bolt, bottle, bouquet, box, box up, budget, bunch, bundle, bundle up, can, capsule, carton, carve, carve up, case, cask, chattels real, chunk, clot, clump, cluster, clutch, collection, component, container, contingent, count, crate, cross section, cut, cut up, deal, deal out, deck, decrease, demesne, detachment, detail, disburse, disperse, distribute, district, divide, divide into shares, divide up, divide with, division, divvy, divvy up, do up, dole, dole out, domain, dose, encase, encyst, fagot, fardel, fasces, fascine, fix, fraction, gob, grounds, group, hamper, hand out, heap, honor, hunk, increase, installment, item, jar, land, landed property, lands, large amount, lot, lots, manor, measure, member, mess, messuage, mete out, moiety, nosegay, number, one or two, pack, package, packet, parcel out, part, particular, partition, passel, percentage, piece, plat, plot, portion, posy, pot, praedium, property, prorate, quadrant, quadrat, quantify, quantity, quantize, quarter, quiver, quota, random sample, rate, ration, real estate, real property, realty, reduce, remainder, roll, roll up, rouleau, sack, sample, sampling, section, sector, segment, set, several, share, share out, share with, sheaf, shift, slice, slice the pie, slice up, small amount, split, split up, subdivide, subdivision, subgroup, subspecies, sum, tank, tenements, tie up, tin, toft, tract, truss, truss up, two or three, umpteen, wrap, wrap up, zone

ROGET THESAURUS

Parcel

Part

N part, portion, dose, item, particular, aught, any, division, ward, subdivision, section, chapter, clause, count, paragraph, verse, article, passage, sector, segment, fraction, fragment, cantle, frustum, detachment, parcel, piece, lump, bit cut, cutting, chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale, lamina, small part, morsel, particle, installment, dividend, share, debris, odds and ends, oddments, detritus, excerpta, member, limb, lobe, lobule, arm, wing, scion, branch, bough, joint, link, offshoot, ramification, twig, bush, spray, sprig, runner, leaf, leaflet, stump, component part, sarmentum, compartment, department, county, fractional, fragmentary, sectional, aliquot, divided, in compartments, multifid, disconnected, partial, partly, in part, partially, piecemeal, part by part, by by installments, by snatches, by inches, by driblets, bit by bit, inch by inch, foot by foot, drop by drop, in detail, in lots.

Assemblage

N assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.

Region

N region, sphere, ground, soil, area, field, realm, hemisphere, quarter, district, beat, orb, circuit, circle, reservation, pale, compartment, department, clearing, (property) &c 780 (Government), 1 arena, precincts, enceinte, walk, march, patch, plot, parcel, inclosure, close, field, court, enclave, reserve, preserve, street, clime, climate, zone, meridian, latitude, biosphere, lithosphere, territorial, local, parochial, provincial, regional.