Packet - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Packet :  (noun)
1: a collection of things wrapped or boxed together [syn: package, bundle, parcel]
2: (computer science) a message or message fragment
3: a small package or bundle
4: a boat for carrying mail [syn: mailboat, mail boat, packet boat]

Based on WordNet 2.0

Packet : \Pack"et\, n. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL. paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.] 1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters. --Shak.

2. Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed days of sailing; a mail boat.

Packet boat, ship, or vessel. See Packet, n., 2.

Packet day, the day for mailing letters to go by packet; or the sailing day.

Packet note or post. See under Paper.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Packet : \Pack"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Packeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Packeting.] 1. To make up into a packet or bundle.

2. To send in a packet or dispatch vessel.

Her husband Was packeted to France. --Ford.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Packet : \Pack"et\, v. i. To ply with a packet or dispatch boat.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Packet : 

The unit of data sent across a network. "Packet" is a generic term used to describe a unit of data at any layer of the OSI protocol stack, but it is most correctly used to describe application layer data units ("{application protocol data unit", APDU).

See also datagram, frame.

(1994-11-30)



Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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