bundle n.1
1. as a (large) quantity.
(a) a large amount.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Wit Without Money V i: I will lie with thee, and get a whole bundle of babies. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Hist. of John Bull 45: A bundle of monstrous lies. | |
| Britons Strike Home 21: Five Sylvias, nine Chloes, and fifteen Sophias, A bundle of Tabbies. | |
| Westmorland Gaz. 23 Jan. 4/2: The united strength of the whole bundle of heresies. | |
| Wilts. Indep. 20 Mar. 4/5: [headline] A Bundle of Inconsistencies. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Susan’s Sunday Out’ in My Young Wife and I Songster 24: And all the loose tobacco she finds in empty jars, / She gives me, and oftentimes a bundle of cigars. | |
| ‘Crime That Failed’ in Sandburrs 82: D’ old loidy lands wit’ bot’ her trilbys, though; d’ bank chunks her a bundle of fly-paper. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Sport (Adelaide) 17 Apr. 4/4: Paddy L dropped a bundle at the Hallett sports. | |
| ‘Charlie the Wolf’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 48: Takin’ on a bundle of fuzzy lambs an’ audimadic alligators. | |
| Dames Don’t Care (1960) 33: This dame has got what it takes — an’ then a bundle! | |
| On Broadway 12 Nov. [synd. col.] [He] was cured of backing shows (when he lost a bundle on a Bea Lillie flop). | |
| Day I Died 130: ‘A big bundle of cabbage, Coyle,’ he said. ‘From what I see of Miami, this is chicken feed,’ Coyle said. | |
| letter 21 May in Leader (2000) 680: There was a party the other day for his new bundle of balls. | |
| Big Easy 205: I don’t have it [...] Your bundle’s gone. | |
| Inside 23: I’ve had bundles out of there, mate, bundles. | |
| (con. 1980s) A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 282: We’ve got bundles of witnesses. |
(b) a large amount of money.
| Black-Eyed Beauty 46: ‘Another man pays,’ he used to say as he saw his roll of fives swept away, and planked down another bundle. | |
| Wolfville 197: S’pose I asks you-all to lend me money, quite a bundle, say, would you do it? | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 Apr. 6/5: His [...] lady mother has had the thick end of every ‘bundle’ her brave son has won. | |
| Sporting Times 1 Apr. 3/2: It was part of the rent bundle, but the ramrod’ll have to wait. | |
| Shorty McCabe 84: I wouldn’t have met him in the ring about then for anything less ’n a bookie’s bundle. | |
| ‘Innocents of Broadway’ in Gentle Grafter (1915) 117: He has nominated you custodian of his bundle in the sappy insouciance of his urban indiscrimination. | |
| ‘The Gangster’s Elegy’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 248: They’s a game runnin’ to clean up a little bundle. | |
| Man’s Grim Justice 79: I had to get another bundle of dough to carry out my plans. | |
| What’s In It For Me? 321: I’m making myself a little bundle. | |
| Really the Blues 216: The head mixer laid a bundle his ways. | |
| Scrambled Yeggs 8: Okay. So I’m out a bundle anyway. A twelve-grand bundle. | |
| Pimp 65: A fast hustler [...] saw a chance to trim Pepper’s old man out of a bundle. | |
| The Same Old Grind 76: ‘You’ll make a bundle in commissions’. | |
| Family Arsenal 167: Where is it – Catford? We’ll win a bundle! | |
| Skin Tight 259: She’s already conned my boss out of a bundle. | |
| Between the Devlin 10: You won it and you were Jack the lad [...] till you did it all back and the bundle went round again. | |
| O is for Outlaw (2000) 273: The cops took his bike and locked it in the impound lot. He said it’s going to cost a bundle to get it out. | |
| Indep. on Sun. 30 Jan. 26: I earned a bundle. | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] I hope she cracks it [i.e. writing] and makes a bundle. | |
| Viva La Madness 13: Waiters [...] making bundles while I pay the rent. | |
| The Force [ebook] ‘How about when they go to Vegas, get comped? Lose a bundle and it gets written off, too?’. |
(c) loot, plunder.
| Pitcher in Paradise 184: Charlie tips Bob the wink that the bundle’s about big enough. | |
| Gay-cat 301: Bundle—stolen goods; plunder from a ‘job’; pillage. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 42: Bundle.– Loot or plunder, usually that which is bulky to carry. Seldom used save by older thieves or yeggs. | |
| ‘Toledo Slim’ in Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 230: We put the bundle in a sheet and started down the block. | |
| Walk on the Wild Side 198: I don’t mean that real hard swindle where she took the rap and you went south with the bundle. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 793: bundle – Loot or plunder. | |
| Gonif 6: This promised to be a healthy bundle, since this was no ordinary ice mark. |
(d) a wad of money.
| Dead Bird (Sydney) 24 Aug. 7/2: He headed the boys for the bundle and came out half a caser a head. | |
| St Paul Globe (MN) 1 Oct. 22/5: They took his winnings, and his own bundle off him. | |
| Shorty McCabe 89: Every tinhorn sport has his bundle, you know; but it’s only your real gent that can flash a check book. | |
| Tacoma Times (WA) 22 Oct. 1/4: Ivanow had three Canadian $50 bills in the bundle stolen from him. | |
| ‘The New Fable of the Aerial Performer’ in Ade’s Fables 195: When the final Kiflukus was put on the Ponies, he assembled the residue of his Bundle and began to work steady as a Guesser in a Broker’s Office. | |
| Hoodlums (2021) 57: [of counterfeit notes] We play it smart, pass a bundle and leave town. |
(e) (US prison ) a long prison sentence.
| Charleston (WV) Daily Mail 21 July 6/8: If a Bowery bum declared that a cop hand [sic] handed him a bundle, would you know that he had dragged him before a judge. | |
| et al. DAUL 37/1: Bundle. [...] 2. A long prison term. ‘Jake’s got a real big bundle to pack away (serve) on this one.’. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 793: bundle of time – A long sentence, or a long Parole Board setting. | |
| Prison Sl. 28: Long also Longtimer An inmate with many years to serve. Although a prison sentence of 10 years or more is generally considered to be long, it is more frequently associated with prison sentences of 25 years to life. (Archaic: bundle, chunk, package). |
2. cognate with baggage n.: a woman, esp. a fat one; one’s wife; thus (US) a girlfriend, a female companion [early use is generally derog.; 20C use is neutral].
| Laugh and Be Fat 25: Knowing that his Bundle of Rue would be highly provoked at his Transgression, he bethought himself of a Project that might cease her Clamours. | |
| ‘Mrs. alias Lady, Agnew’ in Ranger’s Impartial List of the Ladies of Pleasure in Edinburgh n.p.: This drunken bundle of iniquity, is about 50 years of age, lusty and tall. | |
| Warwickshire Word-Book 38: Bundle. A large, fat woman. | |
| ‘Mollie Matches’ in Sandburrs 44: It was lonesome over me joint [...] wit’ me Bundle chased over to do her reg’lar anyooal confession to d’ priest. | |
| Types From City Streets 34: Walk jest as if you was walking on the Lane (Bowery) wid your bundle (girl) on your arm. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Ulysses 719: My old pair of drawers might have been hanging up to on the line on exhibition for all he’d ever care with the ironmould mark the stupid old bundle burned on them he might think was something else. | |
| Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 81: The air hostess, who is one little blonde bundle, and a nifty proposition that I could go for in a very big way indeed. | |
| Runyon à la Carte 79: Mrs. Bidkar is by no means a beautiful but is really nothing but a bundle. | |
| Set This House on Fire 65: That great blond bundle of Mason’s. | |
| (con. 1930s) Night People 66: Do you remember that shy little bundle that was standing by the stand? |
3. in drug uses.
(a) (drugs) a package of bags of heroin (variously of 12, 24, 25 or 50 depending on area/chronology); orig. 1960s retail value $5 per bag.
| Panic in Needle Park (1971) 20: These come in ‘bundles’ similar to half loads, except that the package costs $75 and consists of twenty-five $5 bags. | |
| Patrolman 139: The guy with the leather coat has at least two bundles (about twenty-five decks to a bundle). | |
| Bk of Jargon 340: bundle: A tied bunch of twenty-five small bags of heroin, sold from dealer to pusher and then sold individually on the street. | |
| Workin’ It 73: [heroin] Like they sold six-packs, half a bundle. | |
| (con. 1975–6) Steel Toes 103: The man sells twenty-four bags to a bundle. | |
| No Lights, No Sirens 110: [I]n every bundle there are fifty decks, or envelopes, of smack. |
(b) (US black/drugs) a quantity of a drug available for sale.
| Gaudy Image (1966) 155: He had to find a safe place to stash his bundle [of marijuana]. | |
| Diet of Treacle (2008) 64: The guy figured Shank had a heavier bundle [i.e. of marijuana] at his pad . | |
| Jones Men 161: You said you could handle a regular bundle. | |
| Cocaine True 23: [of cocaine] I would come to work and pick up a five-hundred dollar bundle. | |
| (con. 1985–90) In Search of Respect 343: In New York City, a ‘bundle’ refers to an established quantity of prepackaged drugs ready for individual retail sale. The number of packets in a bundle changes depending on the drug and its cost, i.e., a bundle of heroin is ten $10 glassine envelopes, whereas a bundle of crack is twenty-five vials when they cost $5 each and fifty-five vials when they are worth $3 each. | |
 | ‘Dict.’ at luniz.com 🌐 Bundle: Stash Of Crack Or Weed, Any Kind Of Drug For Sale. | |
| Riker’s 179: Say you got a bundle of dope, right? |
(c) (US drugs) ten bags of heroin; equiv. of one gram.
| ‘The Damage Down’ in Portland Phoenix 12–19 Oct. 🌐 I first started using heroin in ’92, it cost $40 a bag, which is a tenth of a gram [...] Ten bags equal a bundle, and five bundles equal a brick. In the larger cities, a bag costs around $10, less if you buy in quantity. | |
| Alphaville (2011) 223: Ten bags [of heroin] makes a hundred-dollar bundle held together with a rubber band. |
In compounds
(US drugs) a mid-level drug dealer, working between bulk wholesalers and street-level retailers.
| Couple of Cops 161: So this guy [i.e. a small time drug dealer] said, Hey, give me a break, all right, and I’ll take you to a bundle connection who’s handling cocaine in a really big way. A bundle connection was a mid-level guy who people working the streets would buy from. |
In phrases
(US) a very large amount of money.
| More Ex-Tank Tales 38: He had in every kick a bundle that’ud trip a white wings. |
to support whole-heartedly, to be very fond.
| Diaries 1 Feb. 21: I must say I don’t particularly go a bundle on the journey to North Acton every day! | |
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 372: My family never went a bundle on St. Patrick’s Day. | |
| Long and the Short and the Tall Act I: I’ve told you – I don’t go a bundle on this death and glory stuff. | |
| All Night Stand 185: I’ve never gone a bundle much on [...] big-lovin’ mammas. | |
| Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 59: I thought you went a bundle on this stuff [i.e. alcohol]. | |
| London Fields 272: There’s nothing – I wouldn’t do – when I go a bundle on a bloke. | |
| (con. 1945) Touch and Go 154: She likes him [...] Goes the bundle on him. | |
| Soho 194: Alex couldn’t say he went a bundle on Berwick Street Market, it wasn’t a patch on the great glass-covered market up in Leeds. |
1. to bet heavily, to bet one’s entire funds.
| Sporting Times 26 May 1/5: When a young man sits ten feet away from a girl and tells her that she is his first and only love she can safely ‘go the bundle’ on his veracity. | |
| Mop Fair 138: I seemed to get whacked every time as I went the bundle. | |
| This Gutter Life 49: Gah! Blimey! [...] I’ll go the whole bloody bundle in this place one of these nights, I know I will. | |
| Take it Easy 45: So he goes for his entire bundle on Apparition. |
2. to commit oneself completely; fig. use of sense 1.
| Great Game 173: Talking of meals, Sally, I go the bundle on my tea. Where is it? | |
| Long and the Short and the Tall Act II: Haven’t any of you got the guts to go the bundle? |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US tramp) the lowest grade of tramp.
| ‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 441: Bundle-bum, A bindle stiff of the lowest order. | |
| Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 42: Bundle Bum. – A low grade ‘bindle stiff,’ especially when food, clothing or other articles are carried. Also applied to the vagrant who creeps about the streets, pulling discarded food or clothing from refuse cans, bundling his acquisitions together until he returns to his ‘hang-out’ or lodging, where he is able to sort over his finds. |
a short, fat, squat woman.
| Dict. Canting Crew. | |
| New Canting Dict. | |
| , , , | | Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. |
In phrases
to leave, to send away in a hurry.
| Poor Gentleman V ii: Is your ladyship’s honour bundling off, then? | |
| Real Life in London I 231–2: [They] bundled him off to St. Giles’s watch-house, because he was bolting with a bag of togs. | |
| Westmorland Gaz. 12 June 1/6: All this gave great offence [...] to all the gossips of the neighbourhood, and they insisted upon his bundling himself off and he would not. They then attempted to bundle himself off themselves. | |
| ‘The Devil and Johnny Dixon’ in Bentley’s Misc. Mar. 252: Brideen dhu (Black Biddy) has bundled off with a peeler. | |
| Westmorland Gaz. 27 Jan. 13/3: The ebundling off of the express Ambassador, with his unopened bag and baggage, and his suite of Court dummies, were an incident [...] of the broadest pantomime. | |
| Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn). | |
| Sl. Dict. | |
| Sporting Times 6 May 1/5: Head barmaid threatened—bullied—box-packed—bundled off. | |
| Good Behaviour 141: I stood discarded, watching him bundle off down the drive. |
a packet of ten cigarettes.
| (con. WWI) Soldier and Sailor Words 40: Bundle Of Ten: A packet of ten cigarettes. The tens of various suits in a pack of cards. |
1. to panic, to lose (emotional or physical) control, to give up hope.
| Antipodean 1-3 91: A man who loses his nerve at a critical part of a game is said to ‘drop his bundle’. | |
| Sun. Times (Perth) 14 Aug. 4/8: Bob Trewartha at the distance post had Donovan in hand, / But he promptly dropped his bundle as he galloped to the stand. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Aug. 13/1: But I nearly dropped my bundle as I looked at Dad McGee. | |
| ‘The Intro’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 23: I’ve dropped me bundle – an’ I’m glad it’s so. | |
| Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 20 Aug. 11/1: Slanguage [...] Parse and analyse the following: [...] ‘Yer shoulda seen ’im do a bunk; dropped ’is bundcle like the big dope ’e is’. | |
| (con. WWI) in Partridge Sl. Today and Yesterday 287: Joe. Fritz landed a daisy-cutter and the transport driver [...] absolutely dropped his bundle. | |
| Und. Speaks 34/2: Drop the bundle, to lose nerve; afraid to participate. | |
| West. Mail (Perth) 27 May 43/1: I does me block and drops me bundle — and a busted, bleeding heart. | |
| ‘Short Shift Saturday’ in Mann Coast to Coast 209: If they drop their bundles they’re gone a million. | |
| Mirror (Perth) 7 Feb. 8/3: Some people’s psychological make-up causes them to drop their bundle and they won’t attempt to help themselves. | |
| Snowball 233: We can eat ’em alive. Yer not goin’ t’ drop yer bundle jist because the fat cop’s there? | |
| I’m a Jack, All Right 30: Straight into a flat panic. When in doubt — do your bundle — that’s his motto. | |
| Holy Smoke 54: It started to rain too. And at that, he really drops his bundle. | |
| Salute to the Great McCarthy 31: What’s this I hear [...] about that there Mister Universe dropping his bundle. | |
| G’DAY 53: Les. Hoggie’s really takin some stick. DAVO. Yeah — dropped is bundle after Richards it that last bandry. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 40/1: drop one’s bundle to despair. | |
| How to Shoot Friends 20: Most professionals who hit a legal hurdle drop their bundles and do their time hard. | |
| Something Fishy (2006) 218: Drop my bundle now and I’d be no use to anyone. | |
| Chopper 3 28: [as cit. 1993]. |
2. to defecate.
| Traveller’s Tool 7: Mum drops her bundle whenever she feels like it these days. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
3. to give birth.
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 40/1: drop one’s bundle to [...] give birth. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
(Aus.) insane.
| I’m a Jack, All Right 10: You must be off your bundle. |