PACK, n. [See the Verb.]

1. A bundle of any thing inclosed in a cover or bound fast with cords; a bale; as, a pack of goods or cloth. The soldier bears a pack on his back.
2. A burden or load; as, a pack of sorrows. – Shak.
3. A number of cards, or the number used in games; so called from being inclosed together. – Addison.
4. A number of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together, that is, a crowd or assemblage united. – Dryden.
5. A number of persons united in a bad design or practice; as, a pack of thieves or knaves. – Swift.
6. A great number crowded together; as, a pack of troubles. [Not used.] – Ainsworth.
7. A loose or lewd person. [Sax. pæcan, to deceive.] [Not used.] – Skelton.

1. To be pressed or close; as, the goods pack well.
2. To close; to shut. – Cleaveland.
3. To depart in haste; with off. Poor Stella must pack off to town. – Swift.
4. To unite in bad measures; to confederate for ill purposes; to join in collusion. Go, pack with him. – Shak.

1. To place and press together; to place in close order; as, to pack goods in a box or chest.
2. To put together and bind fast; as, to pack any thing for carriage with cords or straps.
3. To put in close order with salt intermixed; as, to pack meat or fish in barrels.
4. To send in haste. – Shak.
5. To put together, as cards, in such a manner as to secure the game; to put together in sorts with a fraudulent design, as cards; hence, to unite persons iniquitously, with a view to some private interest; as, to pack a jury, that is, to select persons for a jury who may favor a party; to pack a parliament; to pack an assembly of bishops. – Pope. Butler. Atterbury.

1. A pact.
   
   
   [Obs.] Daniel.
2. A bundle made up and prepared to be carried] especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods.
   
   
   Piers Plowman.
3. To make a pack of] to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack; to press into close order or narrow compass; as to pack goods in a box; to pack fish.
   
   

   Strange materials packed up with wonderful art. Addison.

   Where . . . the bones
   Of all my buried ancestors are packed. Shak.

4. To make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.
5. In hydropathic practice, a wrapping of blankets or sheets called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the condition of the blankets or sheets used, put about a patient to give him treatment; also, the fact or condition of being so treated.
6. To cover, envelop, or protect tightly with something;
   
   
   specif. (Hydropathy)
7. A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack; hence, a multitude; a burden.
   
   
   "A pack of sorrows." "A pack of blessings." Shak.

   * "In England, by a pack of meal is meant 280 lbs.; of wool, 240 lbs." McElrath.

8. 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; as, to pack a trunk; the play, or the audience, packs the theater.
9. To admit of stowage, or of making up for transportation or storage; to become compressed or to settle together, so as to form a compact mass; as, the goods pack conveniently; wet snow packs well.
10. The forwards who compose one half of the scrummage; also, the scrummage.
    
    

    Pack and prime road or way, a pack road or bridle way.

11. A number or quantity of connected or similar things
    
    
    ; as: (a)
12. To sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly.
    
    

    And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown. Pope.

13. To gather in flocks or schools; as, the grouse or the perch begin to pack.
    
    
    [Eng.]
14. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.
    
    
    Kane.
15. Hence: To bring together or make up unfairly and fraudulently, in order to secure a certain result; as, to pack a jury or a causes.
    
    

    The expected council was dwindling into . . . a packed assembly of Italian bishops. Atterbury.

16. To depart in haste; -- generally with off or away.
    
    

    Poor Stella must pack off to town Swift.

    You shall pack,
    And never more darken my doors again. Tennyson.

17. An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.
18. To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    He lost life . . . upon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies. Fuller.

19. To unite in bad measures; to confederate for ill purposes; to join in collusion.
    
    
    [Obs.] "Go pack with him." Shak.

    To send packing, to drive away; to send off roughly or in disgrace; to dismiss unceremoniously. "The parliament . . . presently sent him packing." South.

20. A loose, lewd, or worthless person. See Baggage.
    
    
    [Obs.] Skelton.

    Pack animal, an animal, as a horse, mule, etc., employed in carrying packs. -- Pack cloth, a coarse cloth, often duck, used in covering packs or bales. -- Pack horse. See Pack animal (above). -- Pack ice. See def. 4, above. -- Pack moth (Zoöl.), a small moth (Anacampsis sarcitella) which, in the larval state, is very destructive to wool and woolen fabrics. -- Pack needle, a needle for sewing with pack thread. Piers Plowman. -- Pack saddle, a saddle made for supporting the load on a pack animal. Shak. -- Pack staff, a staff for supporting a pack; a peddler's staff. -- Pack thread, strong thread or small twine used for tying packs or parcels. -- Pack train (Mil.), a troop of pack animals.

21. To load with a pack; hence, to load; to encumber; as, to pack a horse.
    
    

    Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey. Shack.

22. To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; esp., to send away peremptorily or suddenly; -- sometimes with off; as, to pack a boy off to school.
    
    

    He . . . must not die

    Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven. Shak.

23. To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. e., on the backs of men or beasts).
    
    
    [Western U.S.]
24. To envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings. See Pack, n., 5.
25. To render impervious, as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without giving passage to air, water, or steam; as, to pack a joint; to pack the piston of a steam engine.