Packet

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

packet
    n 1: a collection of things wrapped or boxed together [syn:
         {package}, {bundle}, {packet}, {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}, {packet boat}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

packet \pack"et\ (p[a^]k"[e^]t), n. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL.
   paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See {Pack}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a
      packet of letters. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

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

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

   {Packet note} or {Packet post}. See under {Paper}.
      [1913 Webster]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Packet \Pack"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Packeted}; p. pr. & vb.
   n. {Packeting}.]
   1. To make up into a packet or bundle.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To send in a packet or dispatch vessel.
      [1913 Webster]

            Her husband
            Was packeted to France.               --Ford.
      [1913 Webster]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Packet \Pack"et\, v. i.
   To ply with a packet or dispatch boat.
   [1913 Webster]

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

packet
data 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)

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

48 Moby Thesaurus words for "packet":
      argosy, bale, bark, batch, bindle, boat, bolt, bomb, boodle,
      bottom, bouquet, bucket, budget, bundle, craft, deck, fagot,
      fardel, fasces, fascine, fortune, great deal, hooker, hulk, hull,
      keel, leviathan, loads, lots, mint, nosegay, pack, package, parcel,
      piles, posy, pretty penny, quiver, roll, rouleau, sheaf, ship,
      tidy sum, truss, tub, vessel, wad, watercraft