Extract revised for OED Online

parcel, n.

DRAFT REVISION Jan. 2006

d. pass the parcel n. a children's game in which a gift wrapped in several layers of paper is passed around a circle of players to the accompaniment of music, the person holding the parcel when the music stops being allowed to unwrap a layer (more recently, a gift may be wrapped in each layer). Also allusively: a situation in which ownership of or (esp. undesired) responsibility for something is passed on frequently.

1954 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 12 Mar. 8/8 A special pass the parcel package, donated by Mrs. Wilmer Dorschner, was won by Mrs. Roe. 1967 Times 8 Feb. 14/6 What a splendid game of ministerial 'pass the parcel' would be played when any M.P. wished to complain on behalf of a constituent about treatment received at the hands of the Land Commission. 1968 B. IKESON Your Bk. Party Games 41 (heading) Pass the parcel. 1976 B. BAINBRIDGE Quiet Life iii. 55 Father snatched the book..and slipped it to Mr Harrison as if he was playing pass-the-parcel. 1989 R. GRAEF Talking Blues vi. 203 I've tried pass the parcel—'You take the baby.' 'No, you're the WPC, you have the baby.' 1999 J. BURCHILL Married Alive v. 82 We were glaring at each other like two children facing off over a prize at Pass the Parcel.