Dictionary entry

Parcel

Webster's Dictionary 1913

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. “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. — Part and parcel. See under Part.