The Collaborative International Dictionary
packet \pack"et\ (p[a^]k"[e^]t), n. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL. paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.]
A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters.
--Shak.-
Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed days of sailing; a mail boat.
Packet boat, Packet ship, or Packet vessel. See Packet, n., 2.
Packet day, the day for mailing letters to go by packet; or the sailing day.
Packet note or Packet post. See under Paper.
Usage examples of "packet ship".
They were off to France in a packet ship, to contact new agencies there, and so, with luck, expand their trade.
There were times, he thought crossly, when one of the King's ships seemed to carry more private mail than a Post Office packet ship.
Your subordinate on a two-bit packet ship under your absolute command.
His propeller was tried in a small vessel, forty-five feet long and eight wide, which was driven at the rate of ten miles an hour, and towed a large packet ship at fair speed.