English▸ noun
1 a small cardboard or paper container and the items contained within it:
a pack of cigarettes.
▪ a set of playing cards.
▪ a collection of related documents, especially one kept in a folder:
an information pack.
▪ (the pack) a quantity of fish, fruit, or other foods packed or canned in a particular season.
2 a group of wild animals, especially wolves, living and hunting together:
a pack of wolves will encircle an ailing prey.
▪ a group of hounds kept and used for hunting:
the lead hound gives tongue and the pack takes off, following the line of scent.
▪ an organized group of Cub Scouts or Brownies.
▪ (the pack) the main body of competitors following the leader or leaders in a race or competition:
Price broke from the pack to pursue him
Japanese cars are ahead of the pack in this category figurative.
▪ a group of similar things or people, especially one regarded as unpleasant:
the reports were a pack of lies
this unsavoury pack of rogues
a pack of girls in Georgia's class have been making her life a misery.
▪ Rugby a team's forwards considered as a group:
I had doubts about Swansea's pack at the beginning of the season.
4 an expanse of large pieces of floating ice driven together into a nearly continuous mass, as occurs in polar seas.
5 a hot or cold pad of absorbent material, especially as used for treating an injury.
▪ short for face pack
▸ verb [with object]
1 fill (a suitcase or bag) with clothes and other items needed for travel:
I packed a bag and left
[no object] she had packed and checked out of the hotel.
▪ place (something) in a container for transport, storage, or sale:
Elizabeth packed a sandwich in a bum bag to snack on.
▪ [no object] be capable of being folded up for transport or storage:
a pneumatic igloo tent that packs away compactly.
▪ store (something perishable) in a specified substance in order to preserve it:
the organs were packed in ice.
2 cram a large number of things into:
it was a large room, packed with beds jammed side by side.
▪ (of a large number of people) crowd into and fill (a room, building, or place):
students recently packed a hall to hear the poet.
▪ cover, surround, or fill (something):
if you have a nosebleed, try packing the nostrils with cotton wool.
– PHRASES
go to the pack Australian and New Zealand English informal
deteriorate; go to pieces:
deteriorate; go to pieces:
it was real sad how he went to the pack.
pack one's bags
prepare for one's imminent departure:
prepare for one's imminent departure:
he might hand in his resignation, pack his bags, and go to Tahiti.
pack it in informal
stop what one is doing:
stop what one is doing:
I decided to resit my GCSEs but I didn't have enough confidence in myself so I packed it in.
pack a punch
be capable of hitting with skill or force:
be capable of hitting with skill or force:
Rosie, although small, could pack a hefty punch.
▪
have a powerful effect:
have a powerful effect:
the Spanish wine packed quite a punch.
– PHRASAL VERBS
pack in
1 (pack something in, pack in something) informal give up an activity or job:
I'm packing in the job.
3 (pack something in, pack in something) North American English carry something to a place (used especially with respect to remote campsites):
pack out what you pack in, use campfires sparingly, and put them out completely.
pack off (pack someone off, pack off someone) informal send someone somewhere without much warning or notice:
I was packed off to hospital for surgery.
pack out
1 (pack something out, pack out something) British English (of a large number of people) crowd into and fill:
hundreds of people packed out the venue.
2 (pack something out, pack out something) North American English carry something away rather than leaving it behind (used especially with respect to refuse at remote campsites):
pack out any garbage you have left.
– ORIGIN Middle English: from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pak (noun), pakken (verb). The verb appears early in Anglo-Latin and Anglo-Norman French in connection with the wool trade; trade in English wool was chiefly with the Low Countries.