packthread

English

Alternative forms

• pack-thread

Etymology

From pack +‎ thread.

Noun

packthread (countable and uncountable, plural packthreads)

1. (archaic) A strong thread or twine used in tying up parcels.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 20:

     Eighty Poles, each of one Foot high, were erected for this purpoſe, and very ſtrong Cords of the bigneſs of Packthread were faſtned by Hooks to many Bandages, which the Workmen had girt round my Neck, my Hands, my Body, and my Legs.

   • 1895, Susan Coolidge, A Little Country Girl‎:

     It was tied with pink packthread instead of ribbon.

   • 1867, John Lothrop Motley, Project Gutenberg History of The Netherlands, 1555-1623, Complete‎:

     The Hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, fastened with metal clamps, moored with iron anchors, and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped to pieces like packthread.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge‎:

     In lieu of buckles at his knees, he wore unequal loops of packthread; and in his grimy hands he held a knotted stick, the knob of which was carved into a rough likeness of his own vile face.

Translations

a strong thread or twine used in tying up parcels

Galician: costal m, conda f Russian: шпага́т (ru) m (špagát), бечёвка (ru) f (bečóvka)