Word of the Day: Package
package
pack-age / păk-ĭj
noun
1. something packed, wrapped up, or tied together; a parcel
When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.
John Ruskin, 1819 – 1900
2. a container or other such wrapping into which something is placed to store, transport or sell
The best things come in small packages.
Latin Proverb
3. a group of components or elements sold together as a single unit
The most important thing to remember when you’re buying a vacation travel package is to read the fine print.
Erica Gerald Mason, “Going on vacation? Try these 6 tips to avoid travel scams”, ‘Yahoo!Life’, www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/summer-travel-scams-yahoo-subscriptions-232651274.html, July 30, 2021
4. a group of items that have been combined to offer or consider as a single unit
When you look at the whole package of energy, the food you eat should match the story you want to live, which means: as fresh as possible, without dullness, repetition, and routine.
Deepak Chopra, 1947 –
verb
1. to place in a container or similar wrapping
Letters are expectation packaged in an envelope.
Shana Alexander, 1925 – 2005
2. to publicly present in a particular manner or light
Some record labels want to package you in a certain way and we didn’t want that.
Christian Burns, 1974 –
3. to combine and present as a single unit
Thus, lenders were pushed to sign up mortgages without regard to risk, or even favoring higher interest rate loans, since, once these mortgages were packaged together, the risk was disguised.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/plotsummary, accessed December 16, 2021
etymology
A combination of the verb pack (from the Middle English verb pakken (pack together, bundle), and the noun-forming suffix -age belonging to, characteristic of, related to). The Middle English verb seems to have its origin on a Low German word for bundle, with possible influence from the Mediaeval Latin verb pacco, paccare, paccavi, paccatum (pack, stuff) and the Old French verb empaker of the same meaning. The suffix -age comes through Old French from the Latin adjectival suffix -aticus, atica, aticum (belonging to, related to, characterized by the action of the verb to whose base it is attached).
Thank you to Allen Ward for providing this etymology.