pack v.1
1. (US) to carry, also in fig. use.
 | in Lewis and Clark Expedition III (1905) 181: Set all hands packing the loading over the portage which is below the grand shute . | |
| Journal II 360: I let him know that I [...] meant to hire a horse of him to pack our provisions . | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | letter 25 Dec. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 188: I am packing a pocketful. | |
| Wolfville 332: An’ so none of us s’spexcts Crawfish is packin’ any sech s’prises. | |
| Brand Blotters (1912) 126: All week you been packin’ the troubles I heaped on you. | |
| Valley of the Moon (1914) 505: I watched a woman over on the other side of the valley, packin’ water two hundred feet from the spring to the house. | |
| Drifting Cowboy (1931) 218: He layed in hospital with a broken jaw [...] and when he come out he was packing a full set of false teeth. | |
| Other Side of the Circus 155: Against the law to pack a cookie-cutter without a license in a lot of states. | |
| ‘Gentlemen, the King!’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 180: I never know Jo-jo is packing this article around and about with him. | |
| Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 108: We got Wally tied on the burro and packed him three miles to a medico. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Skyvers I ii: Look at the guys you see packin’ a big bag of books regular to school. | |
| (con. 1969) Dispatches 8: We packed grass and tape: Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadows, Best Of The Animals [etc.]. | |
| Get Your Cock Out 28: The little chicquita he’d been skeezing with all evening was packing a pound of sausalito. | |
| Money Shot [ebook] So many guys think they won’t be able to cut the mustard with me because they aren’t packing thirteen concrete inches. |
2. (US) to live as a tramp, travelling the country [the SE pack that is carried].
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 117: To pack [...] to travel. | |
| Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.]. |
3. (US) to carry a weapon, usu. a gun or knife; also to wear.
| Big Blue Union (Marysville, KS) 20 June 2/1: We noticed several men in town [...] one of two of whom were ‘packing’ a gun apiece. | |
| letter 13 Nov. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 86: A man might just as well be in hell with his back broke as pack a shooting iron around here. | |
| Chimmie Fadden 58: What makes it life saving is cause no gents can pack no gun nor no knife t’ de dance. | |
| ‘One Mountain Lion’ in Sandburrs 35: Like the Winchester you’re packin? | |
| ‘Above the Law’ in Coll. Stories (1994) 47: Jest pack that shootin’-iron with you by way of a friend. | |
| You Can’t Win (2000) 170: I’ve packed a gun for thirty years, and every time I fired it I was in the wrong. | |
| ‘Wild Buckaroo’ in Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 106: I pack a long knife and a pistol to boot. | |
| Really the Blues 6: The gats we packed in our hip pockets and aimed at each other just for fun. | |
| Tomboy (1952) 67: I’m packing my new home-made [...] it’s as good as any .22 pistol. | |
| ‘Some Get Wasted’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 350: The cat had gone to church packing his zip that morning and gone down to lock with the Crusaders that afternoon. | |
| (con. 1911) Schoolboy, Cowboy, Mexican Spy 142: I noticed that Villa ‘packed’ his rifle on the offside of his saddle. | |
| ‘Social Organization of Prisons’ dissertation U. Auckland 336: The knowledge that an inmate is ‘packing a shiv’ [...] is often enough to prompt a reopening of negotiations. | |
| ‘Hustler’s Convention’ 🎵 I partied hard and packed a mean rod. | |
| ‘Lil’ Ghetto Boy’ 🎵 No need to be uncalm if you pack right / And learning just enuff to keep your sack right. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Rev. 16 Dec. 17: The Railway Children pack switch blades, / Little Women all have AIDS. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 133/1: pack v. 1 to arm oneself 2 to carry a weapon [...] pack a shiv to carry a knife. | |
| Snitch Jacket 56: What is it you’re packing? A switchblade? A blackjack? Brass knuckles? Or maybe a gun? | |
| Hard Bounce [ebook] [A]n old black nylon jacket on despite the heat, which told me he was packing. | |
| (con. 1962) Enchanters 10: They packed pump shotguns. |
4. (US) to carry money, to be in funds.
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 25: But we’re packing now and don’t have to bum. |
5. (US drugs) to carry drugs for a dealer.
| Duke 70: You’ll make twenty if you pack it for me today. |
6. in sexual uses.
(a) (US) of a man, to have sexual intercourse.
| Knock on Any Door 201: ‘Who’s the broad?’ Juan asked, grinning. [...] ‘Are you packing her steady?’ ‘Whenever I want.’. |
(b) (US campus) of a male homosexual, to have anal sex.
| World’s Toughest Prison 811: pack – A homosexual expression. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 112: Most hustlers claim they protect their manhood [...] Others, however, pack or punch it which is complete acceptance of the customer’s cock anally. | |
| Sl. U. |
7. (US prison) to carry contraband in and out of a prison; to carry a concealed weapon.
| On the Yard (2002) 87: It had been another month before Harmon would start packing. He had been scared, but he had been greedy, too. | |
| (con. 1960) Straight Life 260: ‘Maybe he’s packing something.’ There’s two ways of carrying dope into a jail. Either you swallow it and vomit it up, or else you’ve got it stuck up your ass. | |
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Pack: (1) To carry contraband in the rectum. See also ‘Keester.’. |
8. (US) to reject a lover [pack in ].
| ‘Jilted John’ 🎵 She is cruel and heartless / To pack me for Gordon. | |
| Observer Rev. 2 Dec. 2: We laugh about how it used to be the fashion to announce that one had ‘packed’ one’s girlfriend or boyfriend rather than ‘dumped’ them. |
9. in drug uses.
(a) (US drugs) to fill a crack cocaine pipe.
| Crackhouse 70: I have to pack my machine [...] I don’t call it a pipe; I call it my machine. |
(b) (US drugs) to be a major drug dealer, making up the packs of a drug which are then sold on to the dealers who trade on the street.
| Cocaine True 53: What the big packers do is give the caps to the addicts and they sell them [...] Used to be where the person who packed it would stand out there and sell for themselves. But they realized, ‘No, no we’re getting big jail time for this’. |
In derivatives
1. (US) carrying a gun or knife.
| (con. 1944) Gallery (1948) 8: She began to sing ‘Pistol-Packin’ Momma’. | |
| ‘New Blowtop Blues’ 🎵 Oh but she was a 45-packin’ mama, and I ain’t goin’ to try that no more! | |
| (con. 1953–7) Violent Gang (1967) 86: The first thing we noticed was Chino was ‘packed’ ... We figured he had a blade on him, too. [Ibid.] 106: I got a button [i.e. switchblade knife] on me now – I admit it because I’m ‘packing’, that’s it. | |
| Carlito’s Way 26: There was a hundred guys frozen in there — half of them had to be packing. | |
| Do or Die (1992) 135: No guns. Ever. [...] It’ll cost you three years of your life if you’re with anyone who’s packin’. | |
| Another Day in Paradise 133: Shooting these guys is out of the question, they ain’t packed. | |
| Night Gardener 127: He might be packing. Then you got nothin but a gun battle. |
2. (US) performing anal intercourse [SE pack in, to fill].
| Juba to Jive 336: Packing [1980s–1990s] heterosexual term for performing anal intercourse. |
3. (US black) of a man, having sexual intercourse [SE pack in, to fill].
| Black Talk. |
4. (US black) having a large penis.
| Black Talk. | |
| (con. 1960s) Blood’s a Rover 26: Got a fruit gig for you. They guy likes to brown well-hung Filipinos, and i got a mutant packing 10½ inches. |
5. (US gay) of a lesbian, wearing a strap-on dildo, usu. under one’s clothes, or wearing other padding in the genital area to look as if one has a penis.
| Rebecca’s Dict. of Queer Sl. 🌐 packing — among lesbians, to wear a strap-on dildo, usually under one’s clothes. Also, to put something (such as a pair of rolled-up sweatsocks or a cut up Kotex) in the underwear or shorts to achieve the illusion that there is something else there. |
6. (US prison) having weapons for sale.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Packin’: A prisoner who is carrying a weapon or drugs for sale. (VA). |
In compounds
(US prison) the packing of one’s possessions prior to release or transfer.
| Riker’s 396: The act of departing Rikers often begins with ‘the pack up’—the assembling of possessions into a black plastic garbage bag. |
In phrases
(N.Z.) to be depressed.
| Of Men & Angels 172: Mum’s going to pack a sad [...] I don’t want to be the one to tell her. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 81/1: pack a sad to be depressed; from builders’ term for a warp. | |
| Frontman 134: If you’re going to pack a sad [...] then pack one. It's the status of your despair that counts. | |
| Mother’s Taxi 81: He’ll pack a sad but he’ll do it. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
(US black) of a man, to be unable to maintain an erection during intercourse.
| Black Talk. |
(Aus.) terrified, frightened.
| Drum. |
making a large amount of money.
| It Was An Accident 69: ‘You in the dosh?’ ‘Packin’ it Nicky. Packin’ it.’. |
(US) to engage in anal intercourse.
| Underground Dict. (1972) 133: mix your peanut butter [...] Have anal intercourse, a common activity in prison. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 158: A sizable vocabulary is associated with [anal intercourse...] (to get some brown/tight/round eye, to dog fuck, to pack peanut butter). | |
| Thug’s Journal 1 July 🌐 I gots to give props to my dawg Rat Snatch for packing a bone eater’s peanut butter. Nigger left a monkey bite. |
(US tramp) working as a brick layer or labourer.
| Milk and Honey Route 211: Packing the mustard – Carrying the hod. |
(US) to menstruate.
| Plainclothes Naked (2002) 184: That’s one of the Kosher Commandments, man. ‘Thou shalt not touch chicks when they’re packin’ the pillow.’ It’s a Moses thing! |
1. (Aus.) to be frightened [image of holding back fear-induced diarrhoea].
| (con. 1941) Twenty Thousand Thieves 69: He’s packing them badly. He’s quite useless. | |
| Unknown Industrial Prisoner 132: They were packing the shits when he went off his head in the control room last time. | |
| Last Toke 65: That fool white boy most likely be packin’ his shit. | |
| Puberty Blues 10: I’m so nervous. I didn’t do any study. I’m packin’ shit. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 81/1: pack shit to be afraid. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
2. (N.Z.) to talk nonsense.
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
(US) a male homosexual.
| Amatory Ink 🌐. | |
| The-House-of-Love.org ‘Gay Men Names’ 🌐 peanut buffer • peanut-packer • peanut popper. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
(US) to conduct a relationship with.
| Indoor Sports 2 Aug. [synd. cartoon] He must be as loose as ashes with the change. She don’t pack around with no tight wads. |
1. to stop, to cease to function, to give up, to die.
| Confessions of a Detective 3: I held it the part of wisdom, without waiting for any age-limit to reach me, to pack in and quit. | |
| (con. 1905–25) Professional Thief (1956) 36: A four-handed mob packs in for the day, three going in one direction and the fourth in the other direction. | |
| ‘Dancing Dan’s Christmas’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 264: I am willing to pack in after one gander at the old doll. | |
| Junkie (1966) 35: All croakers ‘pack in’ sooner or later. | |
| in Sweet Daddy 70: His old lady packed in – died. | |
| Start in Life (1979) 82: The rain’s packing in. It’s light over Stamford. | |
| Plender [ebook] ‘Let’s pack it in [...] There might be somebody on staff about’. | |
| (con. WWII) Soldier Erect 47: Why don’t you pack in ordering us about, Wally? | |
| Cujo (1982) 149: Mom’s ole blue Pinto packs it in. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] ‘Pack it in, Bob,’ he muttered. | |
| The Answer Is 261: [T]here are certainly moments in my life [as a cancer sufferer]—when that will to survive disappears and I’m ready to pack it in. |
2. (US) to consume; thus as n. a meal.
| Indoor Sports 12 Mar. [synd. cartoon] I guess the poor simp don’t eat regular eh — the way he packed em in. | |
| Indoor Sports 10 May [synd. cartoon] That pack in will set George back a week — He won’t be in a regular restaurant again for a month. |
3. to quit, to leave a job, to give something up; usu. as pack it in.
| Farewell, Mr Gangster! 279: Slang used by English criminals [...] Packed it in – given it up. | |
| Big Con 173: He may ‘pack the racket in’ and go into legitimate business. | |
| diary 15 Feb. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 195: I should have told the quartermaster to pack it in . | |
| Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 27: School wasn’t all that bad [...] but I packed it in as soon as I could. | |
| Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) 35: . | |
| ‘Dillon Explained That He Was Frightened’ in N. Amer. Rev. Fall 44/1: Pretty soon he quits, just packs it all in and goes away. | |
| 1985 (1980) 206: Five or six mosque workers wanted to pack the job in. | |
| Educating Rita I i: frank: Borrow it. Read it. rita: Ta... If I pack the course in I’ll post it to y’. | |
| Trainspotting 328: Renton [...] has now been clean for ages, since long before he packed in his London job. | |
| Indep. Rev. 21 Oct. 1: It was a long time after we packed it in that I started blaming the real culprit. | |
| Observer Screen 20 Feb. 8: Claire [...] will pack in the fags. | |
| Guardian G2 20 Feb. 6: If I’d been my friend, I would have told me to pack it in. |
4. (US Und.) to leave, to depart.
| Men of the Und. 324: Pack in, To leave. | |
| Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 27: I’ll drive you home. It’s time to pack in, anyway. |
5. to end a relationship; usu. as pack someone in.
| Junkie (1966) 8: My friend ‘packed me in’ because the relationship was endangering his standing with the group. | |
| Night to Make the Angels Weep (1967) I ix: You think that just because your wife packed you in for another you’ve got to scrape round the barrel for company. | |
| Start in Life (1979) 22: I told him he’d be a fool to pack you in. | |
| An Eng. Madam 62: I went off it for two or three years after we packed it in. | |
| Birthday 11: Such determination to pack him in was a kindness that saved him pleading for her not to do so. |
6. (Aus.) to go to bed.
| Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] You want them asleep. Go in two hours after they pack it in. |
as a command, stop it, stop doing it, stop talking.
| Night and the City 203: ‘Well what do you want to do, then?’ ‘Pack it up.’. | |
| Amer. Thes. Sl. §205.4: Stop talking; ‘shut up’, [...] pack it up. | |
| Roll On My Twelve 11: Now pack it in, you lads. | |
| Jennings’ Little Hut 43: Pack it up, Jen, for heaven’s sake! | |
| Fings II i: Tosher Pack it in. | |
| Jubb (1966) 82: Pack it in, mate! | |
| Entertaining Mr Sloane Act III: Pack it in, I tell you. | |
| Saved Scene iv: Pack it up! No wonder that kid cries! | |
| Go-Boy! 194: Pack it in! [...] The screws are coming. | |
| ‘Wanted’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Will you two pack it in! | |
| Fleshmarket Close (2005) 57: ‘Pack it in, Donny,’ the barman warned. |
to go away; also as imper.
| Sarah-Ad 25: So we [...] in the Twinkling of a Feather, / All Three forc’d to pack off together. | |
| Wool-Gatherer 125: Hear to the tatterdemallions! – Christian! Bairn i’ My arms! – Ye impudent, hempy-looking tike that ye are! Pack out o’ my house, I say. | |
| Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 185: PACK, to go away; ‘now, then, pack off there,’ i.e., be of, don’t stop here any longer. | |
| Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1860]. |
1. (orig. milit.) to tire, to abandon one’s efforts, to stop doing something.
| Sport (Adelaide) 6 July 13/1: They Say [...] That Ted., the turf adviser, says if the cattle market mob knew his name was in ‘Sport’ he'd have to pack up. | |
| Mint (1955) 120: Some of the rear rank were heard muttering, as Pearson checked us off. ‘Pack that up,’ he snarled. | |
| Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 67: Now, Browne, pack your chatter up. | |
| Roll On My Twelve 53: Pack up natterin’ and go off an’ ’ave a week wiv the luscious nurses. | |
| Chips 12 Sept. 1: Pack up that stuff, pal. | |
| Frying-Pan 83: You can pack-up any time you want. | |
| Educating Rita I i: I hate smokin’ on me own. An’ everyone seems to have packed up these days. | |
| Remorseful Day (2000) 146: Just pack up the booze. |
2. of a person, to die.
| N&Q 12 Ser. IX 425: Packed Up. Killed. | |
| Tell England (1965) 293: Sad about such a nice young gentleman. He’s packing up, they say. | |
| You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Packed Up: Dead. |
3. of machinery, or of anything that works mechanically, e.g. the human heart, to stop working; usu. as packed up, occas. packed.
| Story North Sea Air Station 201: To make matters worse another engine packed up [OED]. | |
| Otterbury Incident 64: There seemed nothing to stop Toppy unless his voice packed up. | |
| letter 6 Mar. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 224: I hurled myself at a novel again, but it packed up last week, and I am still suffering from injury to the self esteem. | |
| Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 105: Her veins have packed up. | |
| Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 144: At midnight Jimmy’s torch packed up. | |
| London Embassy 156: The radiator packed up in Virginia. | |
| Happy Like Murderers 166: The television packed up early in the New Year and she didn’t have any money to fix it. | |
| Guardian Travel 8 Jan. 7: The starter motor packed up. |
4. vtr., to dismiss from a job.
| (con. 1895) Tiger of the Legion 67: ‘Bit o’ fun for you, maybe—but I reckon the boss’ll pack me up over it! We ain’t bin on good terms lately, anyway!’ . |
5. to reject.
| ‘In The Melting Pot’ in Ashton et al. Our Lives (1982) 176: Well, him make up him mind that him wanted Liza, so him pack up Pauline. |
to leave for good.
| Voyage to Ireland III 10: I then call to pay, And packing my nawls, whipt to horse, and away . | |
| Letters from the Dead to the Living in Works (1760) II 84: I put no confidence in the king [...] should he pack up his awls for the other world I would not trust him. | |
| Universal; Etym. Eng. Dict. | |
| (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) I 211: The devil [...] whispered in my ear that I should be a great fool, to pack up my alls when the prize was falling into my hands. | |
| Herodotus in Works 8 191: Old Boreas [...] was required to pack up his alls and be off . | |
| Le Slang. |