parcel post

parcel post
    n 1: postal service that handles packages
    

Parcel \Par"cel\, n. [F. parcelle a small part, fr. (assumed)
   LL. particella, dim. of L. pars. See {Part}, n., and cf.
   {Particle}.]
   1. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a
      whole; a part. [Archaic] "A parcel of her woe." --Chaucer.
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            Two parcels of the white of an egg.   --Arbuthnot.
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            The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of
            self-government.                      --J. A.
                                                  Symonds.
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   2. (Law) A part; a portion; a piece; as, a certain piece of
      land is part and parcel of another piece.
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   3. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or
      quantity; a collection; a group.
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            This youthful parcel
            Of noble bachelors stand at my disposing. --Shak.
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   4. A number or quantity of things put up together; a bundle;
      a package; a packet.
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            'Tis like a parcel sent you by the stage. --Cowper.
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   {Bill of parcels}. See under 6th {Bill}.

   {Parcel office}, an office where parcels are received for
      keeping or forwarding and delivery.

   {Parcel post}, that department of the post office concerned
      with the collection and transmission of parcels; also, the
      transmission through the parcel post deparment; as, to
      send a package by parcel post. See {parcel post} in the
      vocabulary.

   {Part and parcel}. See under {Part}.
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Parcel post \Par"cel post\
   That branch of the post office having to do with the
   collection, transmission, and delivery of parcels[4]. The
   British Inland Parcel Post was established in 1883. The rates
   in 1913, dating from 1897, were 3d. for parcels not exceeding
   one pound and 1d. for each additional pound up to the limit
   of 10 pounds. A general parcel post was established in the
   United States by Act of August 24, 1912, which took effect
   Jan. 1, 1913. At that time, parcels could not exceed 11
   pounds in weight nor 72 inches in length and girth combined.
   Provision is made from insuring parcels, and also for sending
   parcels C.O.D. The rates of postage vary with the distance.
   See {Zone}, below.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
    

29 Moby Thesaurus words for "parcel post":
      PP, RD, RFD, airmail, book post, correspondence, direct mail,
      direct-mail selling, express, fourth-class mail, frank,
      halfpenny post, junk mail, letter post, letters, mail,
      mail-order selling, mailing list, newspaper post, post, post day,
      registered mail, rural delivery, rural free delivery, sea mail,
      seapost, special delivery, special handling, surface mail