packet

[pak-it] /ˈpæk ɪt/
noun
1.
a small group or package of anything:
a packet of letters.
2.
Also called packet boat, packet ship. a small vessel that carries mail, passengers, and goods regularly on a fixed route, especially on rivers or along coasts.
3.
Cards. a part of a pack of cards after being cut.
4.
Informal. a large amount of money.
5.
British Slang.
  1. a painful blow or beating.
  2. misfortune or failure.
verb (used with object)
6.
to bind up in a package or parcel.
Origin
1520-30; < Middle French pacquet, equivalent to pacqu(er) to pack1 + -et -et
Synonyms
1. See package.
Examples from the web for packet
  • Then they send the designer an enormous packet of textile samples.
  • Follow these easy directions to grow your own plants from a packet of seeds.
  • Dispensing the drug would cost pennies-not much more than the packet of ketchup that restaurants already give you for free.
  • We should have the option to turn on verification of packet origination.
  • It is a photon: a localised wave-packet that propagates from a source under an excited condition.
  • In the past, a prospective student's expression of interest might have yielded a packet of information in the mail a week later.
  • However, making a mad rush at the end to bring the tenure packet up to minimally acceptable is unlikely to be viewed favorably.
  • They pointed to some apples and oranges and a squashed packet of processed cheese, and some cigarettes.
  • When a wasp tries to mate with a flower, it brushes against a packet of pollen.
  • Junk mail can now be identified based on a single packet of data.
British Dictionary definitions for packet

packet

/ˈpækɪt/
noun
1.
a small or medium-sized container of cardboard, paper, etc, often together with its contents: a packet of biscuits Usual US and Canadian word package, pack
2.
a small package; parcel
3.
Also called packet boat. a boat that transports mail, passengers, goods, etc, on a fixed short route
4.
(slang) a large sum of money: to cost a packet
5.
(computing) a unit into which a larger piece of data is broken down for more efficient transmission See also packet switching
verb
6.
(transitive) to wrap up in a packet or as a packet
Word Origin
C16: from Old French pacquet, from pacquer to pack, from Old Dutch pak a pack
Word Origin and History for packet
n.

mid-15c., from Middle English pak "bundle" (see pack (n.)) + diminutive suffix -et; perhaps modeled on Anglo-French pacquet (Middle French pacquet), which ultimately is a diminutive of Middle Dutch pak. A packet boat (1640s) originally was one that carried mails. Packet-switching attested from 1971.

packet in Technology


The unit of data sent across a network. "Packet" is a generic term used to describe a unit of data at any layer of the OSI protocol stack, but it is most correctly used to describe application layer data units ("application protocol data unit", APDU).
See also datagram, frame.
(1994-11-30)