Definition of "packet" in Anglais

noun

1. A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel

   • Don't throw the crisp packet on the floor!
   • a packet of letters
   • a packet of biscuits
   • (archaic) a travel bag containing clothing, nightwear and other accessories.

2. (nautical) 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, ship, vessel (Wikipedia).

3. (botany) A specimen envelope containing small, dried plants or containing parts of plants when attached to a larger sheet.

4. (networking) A small fragment of data as transmitted on some types of network, notably Ethernet networks (Wikipedia).

5. (networking) A protocol data unit of the Internet Protocol.

6. (networking) A message sent over a transport layer protocol.

7. (South Africa) A plastic bag.

   • 2012 August 6, Wendy Knowler, Plastic packets: who bags the profits?

8. (slang) Synonym of package (“male genitalia”).

9. (informal) A large amount of money.

   • It'll cost a packet to fix this.

verb

1. (transitive) To make up into a packet or bundle.

2. (transitive) To send in a packet or dispatch vessel.

3. (intransitive) To ply with a packet or dispatch boat.

4. (transitive, Internet) To subject to a denial-of-service attack in which a large number of data packets are sent.

   • 2007, Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States, Toward a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace Typically, one hacker will annoy another; the offended party replies by launching a denial-of-service attack against the offender. These attacks—known as packeting—tend to be of limited duration […]