packet
5
9.4
- noun
- /ˈpækɪt/
- Archaic
:
barco postal
- Every Friday, the city receives important letters delivered by the packet from Bristol.
- packet boat
Examples
-
The packet boat departed early in the morning, carrying mail to remote islands.
-
Sir Humphrey is taking the Falmouth night packet to St-Malo.
-
Was it the Bristol packet?
-
It's fresh off the Boston packet.
-
What brings such crowds to New York by every packet ship?
Academic text (1990) -
For most people, the packet boats are the only way to get back and forth to the mainland.
Academic text (1994) -
For three days, they rode the packet, enjoying the comfort of hammocks and fresh food.
Fiction book (1993) -
I shall catch the Falmouth packet tonight for St-Malo.
-
And from a nearby buoy we timed the passing of the packet boat.
-
He found that the packet boat for the continent left Gravesend Pier at high tide every Thursday.
Synonyms
1
7.5
A boat that carries mail and sometimes people and goods on a regular route
1
2.8
A boat that carries mail to islands and remote places
A boat that carries mail and small supplies to islands and remote places
Compounds
- Archaic
1
7.5
A boat that carries mail and sometimes people and goods on a regular route
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Packet comes from the word pack meaning 'bundle' with the small ending -et, so it originally meant a 'small package'. Ships that carried regular mail and small parcels were called 'packet boats', and from that a packet became the name for a boat used to carry mail on a fixed route.