1. [syn: mailboat, mail boat, packet, packet boat]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
packet \pack"et\ (p[a^]k"[e^]t), n. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL.
paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.]
1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a
packet of letters. --Shak.
2. Originally, a vessel employed by government to convey
dispatches or mails; hence, a vessel employed in conveying
dispatches, mails, passengers, and goods, and having fixed
days of sailing; a mail boat.
Packet boat, Packet ship, or Packet vessel. See
Packet, n., 2.
Packet day, the day for mailing letters to go by packet; or
the sailing day.
Packet note or Packet post. See under Paper.
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
n 1: a boat for carrying mail [syn: mailboat, mail boat,
packet, packet boat]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
19 Moby Thesaurus words for "packet boat":
carrier, carrier pigeon, homer, homing pigeon, mail car,
mail coach, mail packet, mail train, mail truck, mailer, mailplane,
pigeon post, post boat, post car, post coach, post-horse,
post-office car, poster, railway mail car