ˈparcelling, ˈparceling, vbl. n.
Also 7–8 (in sense 4) parsling.
[f. parcel v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb parcel, or its result, etc.
† 1. A part, portion. Obs. rare.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xviii. 400 Tithis and offringis and suche othere smale parcellingis of paymentis. |
2. Division into parcels or portions; partition.
| 1584–5 [see parcel v. 1]. 1803 J. Porter Thaddeus (1826) l. xi. 236 He did not observe the parcelling out of his temperate meal; one bringing in the fowl, another the bread. 1834 Sir W. Napier Penins. War xiv. viii, The parcelling of an army before a concentrated enemy. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt xxix, An ingenuity of device fitting them to make a figure in the parcelling of Europe. |
3. The action of putting up in a parcel or parcels.
| 1876 Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. vi. 31 The buying and selling and crowding and parceling and callings of ‘Cash!’ |
4. Naut. a. The putting of a canvas strip over a caulked seam, bolt, etc., and covering it with hot pitch; also, the wrapping of a rope round with canvas strips.
| 1627 [see parcel v. 3]. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. xi. §4. 283 Parsling. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 25 The parcelling, or laying with Tarr and Hair all the Iron⁓work under water. c 1860 H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 28 To begin serving, you should begin where you leave off parcelling. |
b. concr. A strip of canvas (usually tarred) for binding round a rope, in order to give a smooth surface and keep the interstices water-tight.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Parcelling, certain long narrow slips of canvas, daubed with tar, and frequently bound about a rope. 1879 N. H. Bishop 4 Months in Sneak-Box (1880) 13 There were piles of old rigging, iron bolts and rings, tarred parcelling. |
5. attrib., as parcelling machine, (a) a machine for making up parcels of yarn, cloth, etc.; (b) a machine for making parcelling (4 b).
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1632/2. |