n.1. a. A collection of items tied up or wrapped; a bundle.
b. A container made to be carried on the body of a person or animal.
2. The amount, as of food, that is processed and packaged at one time or in one season.
3. A small package containing a standard number of identical or similar items: a pack of matches.
4. a. A complete set of related items: a pack of cards.
b. Informal A large amount; a heap: earned a pack of money.
5. a. A group of animals, such as dogs or wolves, that run and hunt together.
b. A gang of people: a pack of hoodlums.
c. An organized troop having common interests: a Cub Scout pack.
6. A mass of large pieces of floating ice driven together.
7. Medicine a. Material, such as towels, sheets, or blankets that are used to swathe a patient or body part.
b. A material, such as gauze, that is therapeutically inserted into a body cavity or wound.
8. a. An ice pack used to reduce pain and inflammation.
b. A cold pack.
c. A hot pack.
9. A cosmetic paste that is applied to the skin, allowed to dry, and then rinsed off.
v.tr.1. To fold, roll, or combine into a bundle; wrap up.
2. a. To put into a receptacle for transporting or storing: pack one's belongings.
b. To fill up with items: pack one's trunk.
3. To process and put into containers in order to preserve, transport, or sell: packed the fruit in jars.
4. a. To bring together (persons or things) closely; crowd together: managed to pack 300 students into the lecture hall.
b. To fill up tight; cram.
5. Medicine a. To wrap (a patient) in a pack.
b. To insert a pack into (a body cavity or wound).
6. To wrap tightly for protection or to prevent leakage: pack a valve stem.
7. To press together; compact firmly: packed the clay and straw into bricks.
8. Informal To carry, deliver, or have available for action: a thug who packed a pistol; a fighter who packs a hard punch.
9. To send unceremoniously: The parents packed both children off to bed.
10. To constitute (a voting panel) by appointment, selection, or arrangement in such a way that it is favorable to one's purposes or point of view; rig: "In 1937 Roosevelt threatened to pack the court" (New Republic).
v.intr.1. To place one's belongings in boxes or luggage for transporting or storing.
2. To be susceptible of compact storage: Dishes pack more easily than glasses.
3. To form lumps or masses; become compacted.