pack

[[t]pæ̱k[/t]]

♦♦

packs, packing, packed

1) VERB When you pack a bag, you put clothes and other things into it, because you are leaving a place or going on holiday.

[V n] When I was 17, I packed my bags and left home...

[V n] I decided to pack a few things and take the kids to my Mum's...

I packed and said goodbye to Charlie.

Derived words:

packing N-UNCOUNT

She left Frances to finish her packing.

2) VERB When people pack things, for example in a factory, they put them into containers or parcels so that they can be transported and sold.

[V n] They offered me a job packing goods in a warehouse...

[V n in n] Machines now exist to pack olives in jars.

[V-ed] ...sardines packed in oil.

Derived words:

packing N-UNCOUNT

His onions cost 9p a lb wholesale; packing and transport costs 10p.

3) VERB If people or things pack into a place or if they pack a place, there are so many of them that the place is full.

[V into n] Hundreds of thousands of people packed into the mosque...

[V n] Seventy thousand people will pack the stadium.

Syn:

cram

4) N-COUNT: oft N of n A pack of things is a collection of them that is sold or given together in a box or bag.

The club will send a free information pack.

...a pack of cigarettes...

She read the back of the pack and said it had the same ingredients.

5) N-COUNT A pack is a bag containing your possessions that you carry on your back when you are travelling.

I hid the money in my pack.

Syn:

rucksack, backpack

6) N-COUNT: usu N of n You can refer to a group of people who go around together as a pack, especially when it is a large group that you feel threatened by.

He thus avoided a pack of journalists eager to question him...

Sal was the leader of the pack.

Syn:

gang

7) N-COUNT: oft N of n A pack of wolves or dogs is a group of them that hunt together.

8) N-COUNT: oft N of n A pack of playing cards is a complete set of playing cards. [mainly BRIT]

...a pack of cards.

...shuffle the pack.

(in AM, usually use deck)

9) VERB If someone packs a gun, they carry it. [INFORMAL]

[V n] ...eight bodyguards, at least one of them packing a pistol.

Syn:

carry

10) VERB If someone packs a jury, committee, or meeting, they make sure that it includes people who support them.

[V n with n] Opposition parties have boycotted the proceedings, saying the government has packed the conference with its own supporters...

[V n] John Major will not try to pack the House of Lords.

11) → See also , packing

12) PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR If you say that an account is a pack of lies, you mean that it is completely untrue.

You told me a pack of lies.

13) PHRASE: V inflects If something packs a punch, it has a very powerful effect.

W. Somerset Maugham's novel still packs an emotional punch.

...drinks that pack a punch.

14) PHRASE: V inflects If you send someone packing, you make them go away. [INFORMAL]

I decided I wanted to live alone and I sent him packing.

15) PHRASE You can say that someone is ahead of the pack or leading the pack if they are ahead of everyone else in a race or competition.

The Socialists may still finish ahead of the pack...

Europe has got used to following rather than leading the pack.

Phrasal Verbs:

- pack in

- pack into

- pack off

- pack up