Forms: 4–7 bundel, 5 bondel(l, 5–6 bundelle, boundell, (6 byndle), 6–7 bundell, 7– bundle. [Proximate derivation obscure; ultimately f. *bund- pa. pple. stem of OTeut. *bind-an to BIND; the precise form of the suffix is uncertain. Cf. MDu. bondel (mod. bundel), mod.G. bündel; also OHG. gibuntilî, -lîn neut., MHG. gebündel, and OE. byndele wk. fem. ‘act of binding’ (only in Laws of Ælfred, xxxv.); but these forms are not exactly parallel. The OE. byndele, or the OE. equivalent of any of the continental words quoted, would have yielded mod. Eng. *bindle, so that the form of the existing word seems to point to adoption from Du. or LG., or else to analogy with the pple. bund, ‘bound.’]
† 1. That which binds; a bandage. Obs. rare.
1382. Wyclif, Jer. ii. 32. Whether forȝete shal … the womman spouse of hir brest bundel [1388 brest girdil, Coverd. stomacher; Vulg. fasciae pectoralis]?
2. A collection of things bound or otherwise fastened together; a bunch; a package, parcel.
In some spec. uses now superseded by bunch; e.g., we no longer speak of ‘a bundle of keys, of flowers’; but we still say ‘a bundle of sticks,’ etc., not ‘a bunch.’ The most frequent application of the word, when not followed by of, is to denote a parcel tied up in a handkerchief.
1388. Wyclif, Song of Sol. i. 12. My derlyng is a bundel of myrre to me.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xcvii. [Flax] bounde in praty nytches & boundel.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 55. Bundelle, fasciculus.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, 110. On his gurdel a bondel of keyes.
1534. More, On Passion, Wks. (1557), 1297/1. A boundell of the lowe growing herbe of Ysope.
1577. Dee, Relat. Spir., I. (1659), 133. He appeareth now all in violet Silk like a Cloke, and on his head a bundel wreathed of the same.
1636. Healey, Theophrast., 26. In his hand a bundle of papers.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxiii. 71. How may I send a large bundle to you?
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, v. 81. Put in some good broth or gravy, and a bundle of sweet herbs.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. viii. 63. Tied up a … bundle of linen.
1831. Brewster, Optics, xx. 181. A bundle of glass plates.
b. Animal Phys. A set of muscular or nervous fibers bound closely together. c. Fibro-vascular (or vascular) bundle (Veg. Phys.): one of the collections of fibers, vessels, and cells, which constitute the fibro-vascular tissue.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 283. The bundle of Fibres which constitute the Muscle may be small.
1802. Med. & Phys. Jrnl., VIII. 368. The Mollusca … have all the remainder of the common bundle of nerves … contained in the same cavity with the other viscera.
1866. Huxley, Phys., xi. (1869), 4. Delicate bundles of nervous filaments, the roots of the spinal nerves.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 332.
c. Law, in pl. (see quots.).
1678. Phillips, Bundles, a sort of Records of Chancery, lying in the office of the Rolls; as, the Files of Bills, and Answers in Chancery, the Files of Corpus cum Causa, all writs of Certiorari, with their Certificates, and divers others.
1715. in Kersey.
1721–90. in Bailey.
d. Twenty hanks, or 60,000 yards, of linen yarn.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 450. These packages … consist of from quarter of a bundle to five or six bundles.
e. Iron work. A ‘fagot’ of iron or steel rods for welding together and working into a mass of greater toughness.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metals, I. 98. The whole mass was bound together by collars driven on tight, or by strips of iron wrapped firmly about the bundle. Several of these faggots being thus prepared, were placed in a furnace and brought to a welding heat.
3. fig. A collection, ‘lot’ (of things material or immaterial); usually either with contemptuous implication, or with allusion to a figurative ‘tying together.’ † To be bound in the bundle of life (a Hebraism derived from the Bible): to be fore-ordained to continued life.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. xxv. 29. Then shal the soule of my lorde be bounde in the bundell of ye lyuynge [1611 bound in the bundle of life] euen with the Lorde thy God.
1564. Grindal, Rem. (1843), 11. A bundle of the principal nobility of the christian world.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. ii. (1686), 5. A bundle of calumnies.
1768–78. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 336. A bundle of superstitions and gross absurdities.
1785. Reid, Int. Powers, 186. A bundle of sensations.
1863. E. V. Neale, Anal. Th. & Nat., 40. The thought of any object is not that of a mere bundle of qualities.
1864. Burton, Scot Abr., I. i. 25. The King and Queen of France, the King of Navarre, and the royal dukes in a bundle.
4. Attrib. and Comb., as bundle handkerchief: bundle pillar (see quot.); bundle-ring, ring of fibro-vascular bundles; so bundle-system, -tube; bundle-sheath, the sheath investing each fibro-vascular bundle, the endodermis; bundle-yarn, yarn made up in bundles (see sense 2 d).
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 11 Sept., 4/2. Crowds … with huge carpet bags, tin boxes, and *bundle handkerchiefs.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Bundle Pillar, in Gothic architecture, a column consisting of a number of small pillars around its circumference.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 258. In the internode of Nepenthes there is found an inner typical *bundle-ring.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 123. Masses of tissue accompany the separate fibro-vascular bundles as … envelopes or sheaths; these I term generally *Bundle-sheaths.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 248. A not inconsiderable number of Dicotyledons … differ in their *bundle-system from that which characterises their allies.
1883. Daily News, 3 Oct., 2/6. The market for *bundle yarns.
