PACKET

mailboat, mail boat, packet, packet boat

(noun) a boat for carrying mail

packet

(noun) a small package or bundle

packet

(noun) (computer science) a message or message fragment

package, bundle, packet, parcel

(noun) a collection of things wrapped or boxed together

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

packet (plural packets)

A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel

(nautical) 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, ship, vessel (Wikipedia).

(botany) A specimen envelope containing small, dried plants or containing parts of plants when attached to a larger sheet.

(networking) A small fragment of data as transmitted on some types of network, notably Ethernet networks (Wikipedia).

(South Africa) A plastic bag.

(informal) A large amount of money.

Verb

packet (third-person singular simple present packets, present participle packeting, simple past and past participle packeted)

(transitive) To make up into a packet or bundle.

(transitive) To send in a packet or dispatch vessel.

(intransitive) To ply with a packet or dispatch boat.

(transitive, internet) To subject to a denial-of-service attack in which a large number of data packets are sent.

Anagrams

• Ptacek, peck at

Source: Wiktionary

Pack"et, n. Etym: [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL. paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.]

1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters. Shak.

2. 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, ship, or vessel. See Packet, n., 2.

– Packet day, the day for mailing letters to go by packet; or the sailing day.

– Packet note or post. See under Paper.

Pack"et, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Packeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Packeting.]

1. To make up into a packet or bundle.

2. To send in a packet or dispatch vessel. Her husband Was packeted to France. Ford.

Pack"et, v. i.

Definition: To ply with a packet or dispatch boat.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition