What is "parcel"

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

1. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part. [Archaic] ``A parcel of her woe.''
   --Chaucer.

   Two parcels of the white of an egg.
   --Arbuthnot.

   The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government.
   --J. A. Symonds.

2. (Law) A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of land is part and parcel of another piece.

3. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.

   This youthful parcel Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing.
   --Shak.

4. A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle; a package; a packet.

   'Tis like a parcel sent you by the stage.
   --Cowper.

   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 \Par"cel\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Parceledor Parcelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Parceling or Parcelling.]

1. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; -- often with out or into. ``Their woes are parceled, mine are general.''
   --Shak.

   These ghostly kings would parcel out my power.
   --Dryden.

   The broad woodland parceled into farms.
   --Tennyson.

2. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize. [R.]

   That mine own servant should Parcel the sum of my disgraces by Addition of his envy.
   --Shak.

3. To make up into a parcel; as, to parcel a customer's purchases; the machine parcels yarn, wool, etc.

   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 \Par"cel\, a. & adv. Part or half; in part; partially.
--Shak. [Sometimes hyphened with the word following.]

The worthy dame was parcel-blind.
--Sir W. Scott.

One that . . . was parcel-bearded [partially bearded].
--Tennyson.

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

late 14c., "a portion of something, a part" (sense preserved in phrase parcel of land, c.1400), from Old French parcele "small piece, particle, parcel," from Vulgar Latin *particella, diminutive of Latin particula "small part, little bit," itself a diminutive of pars (genitive partis) "part" (see part (n.)).\n

\nMeaning "package" is first recorded 1640s, earlier "a quantity of goods in a package" (mid-15c.), from late 14c. sense of "an amount or quantity of anything." The expression part and parcel (early 15c.) also preserves the older sense; both words mean the same, the multiplicity is for emphasis.

"to divide into small portions," early 15c. (with out), from parcel (n.). Related: Parceled; parcelled; parceling; parcelling.

adv. (context obsolete English) Part or half; in part; partially. n. A package wrapped for shipment. vb. 1 To wrap something up into the form of a package. 2 To wrap a strip around the end of a rope. 3 To divide and distribute by parts or portions; often with ''out'' or ''into''. 4 To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.

1. n. a wrapped container [syn: package]

2. the result of parcelling out or sharing; "death gets more than its share of attention from theologicans" [syn: portion, share]

3. an extended area of land [syn: tract, piece of land, piece of ground, parcel of land]

4. a collection of things wrapped or boxed together [syn: package, bundle, packet]

5. [also: parcelling, parcelled]

1. v. divide into parts; "The developers parceled the land"

2. cover with strips of canvas; "parcel rope"

3. make into a wrapped container

4. [also: parcelling, parcelled]

Parcel may refer to:

• Parcel (package), sent through the mail or package delivery
• Parcel (consignment)
• Land lot, a piece of land
• Fluid parcel, a concept in fluid dynamics
• an object used in the game Pass the parcel
• Placer (geography)

A parcel is an individual consignment of cargo for shipment. Is the unit used in the daily practice for sending and receiving all kinds of cargo. It may have all shapes and sizes. The size can range from an actual mail parcel to 100 boxes of wine, with a top limit, for example, of 4 million barrels cargo of oil large enough to fill a supertanker.

A parcel is a package bearing the name and address of the recipient in order to be routed through the services of a postal service or by express package delivery service to the recipient.

The size can range from a standard mail package to a box large enough to protect what is sent, up to a size that can be transported in a wheelbarrow. Nowadays parcels often bear a barcode so they can be tracked all the stages until the reception by the final recipient.