Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large quantity or group.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An obsolete or dialectal form of parcel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US, informal An indeterminately large quantity or group.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of parcel.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alteration of parcel

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Examples

  • All I know is someone used the word passel in a sentence, and I like it.

    Nunc Scio » Blog Archive » The (possible) Science of Cat Ladies 2007

  • Umlaut knew the word passel because he had heard Demon Professor Grossclout use it once.

    Up In A Heaval Anthony, Piers 2002

  • These being enough admired, I had next to be told that I wouldn't believe how many folks was certain she had retired to the country because she was lazy, just keeping a few head of cattle for diversion -- she that had six thousand acres of land under fence, and had made a going concern _per diem_ of it for thirty years, even if parties did make cracks about her gates; but hardly ever getting a good night's sleep through having a "passel" of men to run it that you couldn't depend on -- though God only knew where you could find any other sort -- the minute your back was turned.

    Somewhere in Red Gap Harry Leon Wilson 1903

  • And Waters warns of another possibility: A split field consisting of Allen and a passel of hard-liners might well lure a moderate into the race.

    Allen best be wary of the grass roots Mike DeBonis 2011

  • And Waters warns of another possibility: A split field consisting of Allen and a passel of hard-liners might well lure a moderate into the race.

    Allen best be wary of the grass roots Mike DeBonis 2011

  • Guy Ritchie (directing), and a passel of low life characters, violence, and dark humor.

    Social Anxiety kateelliott 2009

  • These include epilepsy, fibromyalgia, various interesting respiratory things, a whole passel of cormorbid conditions piggybacking on the fibro, et cetera - but for the purposes of this meme, I'm going to focus on the epilepsy, as it's less common.

    Friday! sihaya09 2009

  • There are also a passel of House Republicans who could make a play for the seat.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Name’s Bond, Kit Bond 2009

  • Now a whole passel of them — Landrieu, Bayh, Lincoln, Lieberman, Pryor, Begich, Nelson, McCaskill — have expressed varying levels of unease with the idea.

    Matthew Yglesias » House Progressives Willing to Back Modified Senate Bill, Centrist Senators Resume Customary Posture as Villains 2010

  • The protagonist is divorced from his wife, has a passel of adult kids with various issues, and a new girlfriend whose adult daughter regards him as a father, too.

    Video update : Bev Vincent 2009

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