different between parcel vs plat

English

Etymology

From Middle English parcel, from Old French parcelle (“a small piece or part, a parcel, a particle”), from Vulgar Latin *particella, diminutive of Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of pars (“part, piece”). Doublet of particle.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pär?-s?l, IPA^(key): /?p??s?l/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): [?p?a?.s??]
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [?p???.s??]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [?p???.s??]
• Rhymes: -??(r)s?l
• Hyphenation: par?cel

Noun

parcel (plural parcels)

1. A package wrapped for shipment.

   Synonym: package

   • At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.
2. An individual consignment of cargo for shipment, regardless of size and form.
3. A division of land bought and sold as a unit.

   Synonym: plot

4. (obsolete) A group of birds.
5. An indiscriminate or indefinite number, measure, or quantity; a collection; a group.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act II, Scene 3,^[2]

     […] this youthful parcel

     Of noble bachelors stand at my bestowing,

   • 1847, Herman Melville, Omoo, Part 2, Chapter 79,^[3]

     […] instead of sitting (as she ought to have done) by her good father and mother, she must needs run up into the gallery, and sit with a parcel of giddy creatures of her own age […]

6. A small amount of food that has been wrapped up, for example a pastry.
7. A portion of anything taken separately; a fragment of a whole; a part.
   • 1731, John Arbuthnot, An essay concerning the nature of aliments, London: J. Tonson, Chapter 4, p. 85,^[4]

     The same Experiments succeed on two Parcels of the White of an Egg […]

   • 1881, John Addington Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy, Volume 5, Part I, New York: Henry Holt, Chapter 1, p. 2,^[5]

     The parcels of the nation adopted different forms of self-government, sought divers foreign alliances.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• lot
• allotment

Verb

parcel (third-person singular simple present parcels, present participle parceling or parcelling, simple past and past participle parceled or parcelled)

1. To wrap something up into the form of a package.
2. To wrap a strip around the end of a rope.

   Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.

3. To divide and distribute by parts or portions; often with out or into.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 2,^[6]

     Their woes are parcell’d, mine are general.

   • 1667, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, London: H. Herringman, Act I, Scene 2, p. 12,^[7]

     Those ghostly Kings would parcel out my pow’r,

     And all the fatness of my Land devour;

   • 1864, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field” in Enoch Arden, etc., London: Edward Moxon, pp. 94-95,^[8]

     Then the great Hall was wholly broken down,

     And the broad woodland parcell’d into farms;

4. To add a parcel or item to; to itemize.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, Scene 2,^[9]

     […] that mine own servant should

     Parcel the sum of my disgraces by

     Addition of his envy!

Translations

Adverb

parcel (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Part or half; in part; partially.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, Act II, Scene 1,^[10]

     Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet […]

   • 1826, Walter Scott, Woodstock, or The Cavalier, Chapter 4,^[11]

     […] as the worthy dame was parcel blind and more than parcel deaf, knowledge was excluded by two principal entrances […]

   • 1864, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field” in Enoch Arden, etc., London: Edward Moxon, p. 59,^[12]

     here was one [a hut] that, summer-blanch’d,

     Was parcel-bearded with the traveller’s-joy

     In Autumn, parcel ivy-clad;

Further reading

• parcel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• parcel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Placer, carpel, craple, placer

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French parcelle (“parcel”), from Latin particula (“particle”), diminutive of pars (“part”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [p???s?l?]

Noun

parcel c (singular definite parcellen, plural indefinite parceller)

1. parcel, lot (subdivided piece of land registred independently in official records)
2. (informal) detached house

   Synonym: parcelhus

Inflection

Portuguese

Noun

parcel m (plural parcéis)

1. a shoal, a sandbank

   Synonyms: vau, vado, baixo, baixio, esparcel, restinga, sirte

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /plæt/
• Rhymes: -æt
• Homophones: plait, Platte

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English plat, platte (“flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground”), probably a variant of Middle English plot, (modern English plot) and influenced by Middle English plat, plate (modern English plate) and Anglo-Norman, Middle French and Old French plat. See platy-, plaice, flat.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

plat (plural plats)

1. A plot of land; a lot.
2. A map showing the boundaries of real properties (delineating one or more plots of land), especially one that forms part of a legal document.
3. (obsolete) A plot, a scheme.

Translations

Verb

plat (third-person singular simple present plats, present participle platting, simple past and past participle platted)

1. (transitive) To create a plat; to lay out property lots and streets; to map.

Translations

Etymology 2

The noun is a variant of plait.

The verb is from Middle English platte, English plat, respectively archaic past and past participle forms of English pleat (a variant of plait), Middle English platten (“to braid, weave; plait; to fold”).

Noun

plat (plural plats)

1. A braid; a plait (of hair, straw, etc.).
   • c. 1806, record in the journals of Lewis and Clark, recorded in The United States Exploration Anthology (2013, ?ISBN):

     they also wear a cap or cup on the head formed of beargrass and cedar bark. the men also frequently attatch^[sic] some small ornament to a small plat of hair on the center of the crown of their heads.

   • 1830, The Ladies’ Museum, volume 31, page 59:

     [...] hair ornamented with a bandeau of gold on one side of the forehead, with a large pearl in the centre of the bandeau; on the opposite side is a plat of hair.

2. Material produced by braiding or interweaving, especially a material of interwoven straw from which straw hats are made.
   • 1824, New Material for Straw Plat, in The New England Farmer, volume 2, page 316:

     The large silver medal and twenty guineas, were this Session given to Miss Sophia Woodhouse, (Mrs. Wells,) of Weathersfield, in Connecticut, United States, for a new Material for Straw Plat.

   • 1829, On British Leghorn Plat for Hats and Bonnets, by Lady Harriet Bernard, in Gill’s Technological Repository, volume 4, page 381:

     Her Ladyship, in a letter to A. Aikin, Esq., [...] dated Castle Bernard, Ireland, Oct. 19, 1827, states that she has made some improvement in the mode of preparing the rye-straw, which is the material for plat employed in the school under her ladyship’s patronage.

   • 1842, The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volume 23:

     Mr. Corston states that 781,605 straw hats had been imported from 1794 to 1803; and that in the last four years of that period 5281 lbs. of straw-plat, which was equal to 26,405 hats, had also been brought to this country.

   • 2000, Whittington Bernard Johnson, Race Relations in the Bahamas, 1784–1834:

     Eleuthera made palmetto plat for hats, arrowroot, and casaba starch.

   • 2002, John McAllister Ulrich, Signs of Their Times ?ISBN, page 45

     The most detailed example of this particular mode of production occurs in the section of Cottage Economy devoted to the making of straw plat for hats, fashioned from raw material grown in England.

Translations

Verb

plat (third-person singular simple present plats, present participle platting, simple past and past participle platted)

1. (dated except regional England) To braid, to plait.
   • 1844, Thomas Jefferson Jacobs, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Pacific Ocean, page 349:

     A customer hailed him; he placed the stool on the ground, and the customer seated himself upon it, while the barber shaved his face, platted his hair, and washed his hands [...]

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English plat, plate, platte (“flat; smooth; blunt, plain”), from Anglo-Norman, Middle French, and Old French plat (“(adjective) flat, level; calm; blunt, plain; (adverb) in a flat position; directly, straight; bluntly, plainly”), from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flat; smooth”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Ancient Greek ?????? (platús, “flat; wide”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleth?- (“flat”).

The English word is cognate with French plat, Italian piatto, Middle Dutch plat (modern Dutch plat (“flat”)), Middle High German blat, plat, Middle Low German plat (modern German platt (“flat”)), Old Danish plat (modern Danish plat), Old Occitan plat (modern Occitan plat), Old Swedish plat (modern Swedish platt); and is a doublet of flat.

Adjective

plat (comparative more plat, superlative most plat)

1. (obsolete except Scotland) Flat; level; (by extension) frank, on the level.
   • c. 1400, John Lydgate, poem, commented upon by Thomas Gray and printed in The Works of Thomas Gray, volume 5, page 305:

     But, crying mercy, the emperour lay plat on the ground.

   • 1889, Henry Morley, Early Prose Romances: The history of Reynard the Fox, page 149:

     But else, hold alway^[sic] your tail fast between your legs that he catch you not thereby; and hold down your ears lying plat after your head that he hold you not thereby; and see wisely to yourself.

   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company:

     But now, youngster, I have answered you freely, and I trow it is time that you answered me. Let things be plat and plain between us. I am a man who shoots straight at his mark.

   • 2011, Gordon Kendall, MHRA Tudor & Stuart Translations, volume 7.II: Gavin Douglas, The Aenid (1513) ?ISBN, page 638:

     The whirling wheel and speedy swift axle-tree / Smat down to ground, and on the earth lay plat.

Adverb

plat (comparative more plat, superlative most plat)

1. (obsolete except Scotland) Flatly, plainly.

   Synonyms: bluntly, directly, straightforwardly

   • c. 1547?1555, John Hooper, A Declaration of the Ten Commandments, published by the Parker Society in 1843:

     Fourth, see [that] thou hide nothing, nor dissemble, but speak plat, and plainly as much as thou knowest.

   • c. 1584?1656, Joseph Hall:

     But single out, and say once plat and plain / That coy Matrona is a courtesan;

References

Further reading

• plat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• plat (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “plat” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
• plat in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• PTAL, TLPA

Catalan

Etymology

Substantivization of the archaic adjective plat (compare French plat (“flat”)), from Old Occitan, from Vulgar Latin *plattus, from Ancient Greek ?????? (platús, “flat”).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?plat/

Noun

plat m (plural plats)

1. plate
2. dish

Related terms

• plata

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plat/
• Rhymes: -at

Etymology 1

From platit (“to pay”) derived from Proto-Slavic *plat? (“a piece of cloth”), as pieces of cloth were used as currency. Possibly cognate with plátno (“canvas, linen”).

Noun

plat m

1. salary

Declension

Synonyms

• mzda
• gáže
• výplata

Derived terms

• platový

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Noun

plat

1. genitive plural of plato

References

Further reading

• plat in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• plat in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed via Middle Low German platt from Old French plat, from Vulgar Latin *plattus, which probably is loan from Ancient Greek ?????? (platús), a cognate of Danish flad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?p?l?ad?]

Adjective

plat (plural and definite singular attributive platte)

1. inane, lacking inspiration, corny, insipid
   • 2016, Anne Strandvad, Vejen til Sofie, Lindhardt og Ringhof ?ISBN

     De ting, hun lavede, var platte og måtte klemmes ud af pligt. Først når de andre spillede dem, blev de til andet end livløse slag på klaveret.

     The things she made were uninspired and had to be squeezed out by duty. It was only when others played them that they became anything else than lifeless beatings on the piano.

   • 2006, Min krønike: 1932-1979, Gyldendal A/S ?ISBN, page 150

     Jeg fandt, at især de sidste fire linjer i visen var platte og stødende.

     I found that, in particular, the last four lines in the song were inane and offensive.

   • 2016, Jørgen Thorgaard, Kolonien, Lindhardt og Ringhof ?ISBN

     Enhver var af den opfattelse, Ladegaards morsomheder var platte.

     Everyone was of the view that Ladegaard's jokes were corny.

   • 2011, Irene Oestrich, Slip bekymringerne, Politikens Forlag ?ISBN

     ... at de syntes Carolines bemærkninger var platte, ...

     ... that they felt Caroline's remarks to be stupid, ...

   • 1986, Eske Holm, Den erotiske handel: roman

     Mænds fascination af Martin berørte ham meget lidt. Han syntes dog bøsserne var besværlige – han syntes, de oftest var platte og seksuelt fikserede.

     The fascination that men held for Martin affected him very little. He did however feel that the gays were troublesome – he felt that they were most often insipid and sexually fixated.

Inflection

Derived terms

• plathed

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pl?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch plat, from Old French plat, from Vulgar Latin *plattus.

Adjective

plat (comparative platter, superlative platst)

1. flat

2. of soft consistency

Inflection

Derived terms

• platbranden
• plattegrond

Descendants

• Afrikaans: plat
• ? Sranan Tongo: plata

Etymology 2

From Platduits, which originally referred to any dialect specific to the low countries.

Noun

plat n (uncountable)

1. One’s local dialect.

   Kan jij plat praten?

   Can you speak the dialect?

Adjective

plat (comparative platter, superlative platst)

1. as one’s local dialect

2. (by extension) common, rural, vulgar

   een platte mop

Derived terms

• platte uitdrukking

Anagrams

• lapt

French

Etymology

From Middle French plat, from Old French plat, from Vulgar Latin *plattus, from Ancient Greek ?????? (platús, “broad, flat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pla/

Adjective

plat (feminine singular plate, masculine plural plats, feminine plural plates)

1. flat

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Romanian: plat

Noun

plat m (plural plats)

1. a flat area of ground; a flat thing; a flat dish or receptacle
2. dish or course (e.g. served in a restaurant)

Synonyms

• mets

Derived terms

Further reading

• “plat” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Gothic

Romanization

plat

1. Romanization of ????????????????

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flattened”)

Noun

plat m (oblique plural plaz or platz, nominative singular plaz or platz, nominative plural plat)

1. a footbridge

Romanian

Etymology

From French plat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [plat]

Adjective

plat m or n (feminine singular plat?, masculine plural pla?i, feminine and neuter plural plate)

1. flat, level, even

Declension

Noun

plat n (plural plate)

1. The high first tone in Hanyu pinyin

Synonyms

• tonul plat

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?at/

Noun

plat m (genitive singular platu, nominative plural platy, genitive plural platov, declension pattern of dub)

1. salary

Declension

Synonyms

• mzda

Derived terms

• platík m
• platovo adv
• platový -á -é

Related terms

• plati?
• výplata

Further reading

• plat in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk