drop one’s bundle

noun

1. several objects or a quantity of material gathered or bound together: a bundle of hay.
2. an item, group, or quantity wrapped for carrying; package.
3. a number of things considered together: a bundle of ideas.
4. Slang. a great deal of money: He made a bundle in the market.
5. Botany. an aggregation of strands of specialized conductive and mechanical tissues.
6. Also called bundle of isoglosses. Dialect Geography. a group of close isoglosses running in approximately the same direction, especially when taken as evidence of an important dialect division.
7. Anatomy, Zoology. an aggregation of fibers, as of nerves or muscles.

verb (used with object), bun·dled, bun·dling.

8. to tie together or wrap in a bundle: Bundle the newspapers for the trash man.
9. to send away hurriedly or unceremoniously (usually followed by off, out, etc.): They bundled her off to the country.
10. to offer or supply (related products or services) in a single transaction at one all-inclusive price.

verb (used without object), bun·dled, bun·dling.

11. to leave hurriedly or unceremoniously (usually followed by off, out, etc.): They indignantly bundled out of the meeting.
12. (especially of sweethearts during courtship in early New England) to lie in the same bed while fully clothed, as for privacy and warmth in a house where an entire family shared one room with a fireplace.

Verb Phrases

13. bundle up, to dress warmly or snugly: A blizzard was raging but the children were all bundled up.

Idioms

14. drop one’s bundle, Australian and New Zealand Slang. to lose confidence or hope.

noun

1. a number of things or a quantity of material gathered or loosely bound togethera bundle of sticks Related adjective: fascicular
2. something wrapped or tied for carrying; package
3. slang a large sum of money
4. go a bundle on slang to be extremely fond of
5. biology a collection of strands of specialized tissue such as nerve fibres
6. botany short for vascular bundle
7. textiles a measure of yarn or cloth; 60 000 yards of linen yarn; 5 or 10 pounds of cotton hanks
8. drop one’s bundle
   1. Australian and NZ slangto panic or give up hope
   2. NZ slangto give birth

verb

9. (tr often foll by up) to make into a bundle
10. (foll by out, off, into etc) to go or cause to go, esp roughly or unceremoniouslywe bundled him out of the house
11. (tr usually foll by into) to push or throw, esp quickly and untidilyto bundle shirts into a drawer
12. (tr) to sell (computer hardware and software) as one indivisible package
13. (tr) to give away (a relatively cheap product) when selling an expensive one to attract businessseveral free CDs are often bundled with music centres
14. (intr) to sleep or lie in one’s clothes on the same bed as one’s betrothed: formerly a custom in New England, Wales, and elsewhere

n.

early 14c., “bound collection of things,” from Middle Dutch bondel, diminutive of bond, from binden “to bind,” or perhaps a merger of this word and Old English byndele “binding,” from Proto-Germanic *bundilin (cf. German bündel “to bundle”), from PIE root *bhendh- “tie” (see bend (v.)). Meaning “a lot of money” is from 1899. To be a bundle of nerves “very anxious” is from 1938.

v.

1620s, “to make into a bundle,” from bundle (n.); meaning “to wrap up in warm heavy clothes” is from 1893. Meaning “to sleep with another, clothed, in the same bed,” a noted former custom in New England, is from 1781. Meaning “to send away hurriedly” is from 1823. Related: Bundled; bundling.

n.

1. A structure composed of a group of fibers, such as a fasciculus.

In addition to the idiom beginning with bundle

• bundle of nerves

also see:

• make a bundle