mail

To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.

Noun countable, regional

  1. A bag or wallet.
    • What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale; / A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male! - 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
    • Open the Males, yet guard the treaſure ſure. Lay out our golden wedges to the view, That their reflexions may amaze the Perſeans. - c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The...
  2. A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.
  3. The (physical) material conveyed by the postal service.
    • Meronym: mailpiece
    • Don't forget to pick up the mail on your way.
    • 1823, The stranger in Liverpool; or, An historical and descriptive view of the town of Liverpool and its environs, Seventh Edition, T. Kaye, page 96, The following are the hours at which the letter-box of this office is...

    Synonyms: snail mail

    Antonyms: email mail

    1. (chiefly US, uncountable) The letters, parcels, etc. delivered to a particular address or person.

      • It should be in your mail today, unless the post office lost it!

      Synonyms: snail mail

      Antonyms: email mail

  4. A stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.
    • All trains stop at all stations, with the exception of a few "local" stations near Mombasa and an odd flag stop or two usually missed by the mails. - 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway...
    • On the morning after the one-day strike, October 4, one of the Type 4s on crew-training, No. D169, was appropriated to head the 3 a.m. mail to Hull, as no steam locomotive had been lit up and the usual Hull Type 3 was...
    • As he passed though the station, he slowed to yell to the signalman, Frank 'Sailor' Bridges: "Sailor - have you anything between here and Fordham? Where's the mail?" Gimbert knew the mail train was due, and he didn't...
  5. The postal service or system in general.
    • He decided to send his declaration by mail.

    Synonyms: post

  6. Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages.
    • Yahoo Mail has been providing mail service since 1997.

    Synonyms: email

  7. Email messages conceived in bulk (as with the analogous sense of physical mail).
    • You've got mail [old audio clip announcing new email in the 1990s-2000s]

    Synonyms: email

  8. An email message.
    • Please look through those mails and confirm whether you received the one about scheduling.

    Synonyms: email

  9. A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.
    • “Fetch me the little private mail with the padlocks, that I recommended to your particular charge — d'ye hear?” - 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *malhō Frankish *malhabor. Medieval Latin malader. Anglo-Norman malebor. ▲ Old French malebor. Middle English male English mail From Middle English male, from Anglo-Norman male, Old French male (“bag, wallet”), from Frankish *malha (“bag”), from Proto-Germanic *malhō (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *molko- (“leather pouch”). Compare Dutch maal.

Forms

mails

Derived

accountable mail admail advertising mail aeromail air mail airmail balloon mail barfmail bicycle mail bugmail buttock mail by return mail carry the mail certified mail chain mail chain-mail check is in the mail cybermail direct mail dogsled mail echomail electronic mail email e-mail

Noun history, human sciences

  1. Armour consisting of metal rings linked together.
    • The knight is laid in his mail, only the hands and face being bare. - 1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § LVII, page 73:
    • "That's funny looking mail, Sire," said Eustace. "Aye, lad," said Tirian. "No Narnian dwarf smithied that. […] - 1956, C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle:
    • Under the sea-girt cliffs the shining ship was readied, laden with coats of mail, swords, and gleaming war harness. - 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library,...
  2. Armour consisting of small plates linked together.
  3. A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
  4. Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
    • We […] strip the lobster of his scarlet mail. - 1716, John Gay, Epistle to the Earl of Burlington:
    • There beryl, pearl, and opal pale, / And metal wrought like fishes' mail, / Buckler and corslet, axe and sword, / And shining spears were laid in hoard. - 1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Journey in the...
  5. A spot on a bird's feather; by extension, a spotted feather.
    • [T]he moorish-fly: made with the body of duskish wool; and the wings made of the blackish mail of the drake. - 1676, Izaak Walton, “[The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation: Part I […].] Fovrth Day.”,...

Origin

From Middle English mayle (“mail armor”), borrowed from Old French maille (“loop, stitch”), from Vulgar Latin *macla, from Latin macula (“blemish, mesh”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *smh₁-tleh₂, from *smeh₁- (“smear, rub”). Compare maillot.

Forms

mails maille

Related

mailed

Derived

chain mail coat of mail mailed mailler mailure plate mail scale mail

Noun historical

  1. An old French coin worth half a denier.
  2. A monetary payment or tribute.
  3. Rent.
  4. Tax.

Origin

From Middle English mal, male from Old English māl (“speech, contract, agreement”) from Old Norse mál (“agreement, speech, lawsuit”). Akin to Old English mǣl (“speech”). Related to Old English mǣlan (mell), maþelian (“to speak out, declare”). From *maþlą (“meeting-place”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to encounter, come”), if so, related to meet, and moot.

Forms

mails maile maill maille

Derived

blackmail mails and duties

Verb Entry 4

  1. To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.
  2. To send by electronic mail.
    • Please mail me the spreadsheet by the end of the day.
    • There has been a crackdown on non-ARPA use of a local ARPA gateway, so I am reluctant to attempt to mail the file to ARPA sites. - 1983, Donn Seeley, “Source for 'Grab'”, in net.unix-wizards (Usenet):
    • Since .mp3's are so big (well for me with a 33.6kp/s connection they are anyway) maybe you should offer on your site to mail the file to people who want it, and have them request it, thus saving your web space, your...
  3. To contact (a person) by electronic mail.
    • I need to mail my tutor about the deadline.
    • I was horrified but my data was OK. Then, it saw it open my e-mail package and start to mail my friends. I turned the power off. - 2000, Carlton Alton Deltree, “Whoever did this sucks...”, in alt.comp.virus (Usenet):
    • 'Yes, at Quantico. She was so excited by it, she sent all those emails, you remember I told you about it -' 'Yes, she mailed me from there too.' - 2002, Jessica Mann, The voice from the grave, page 189:

Forms

mails mailing mailed

Synonyms

post

Derived

mailability mailable mailer mailing mail-in vote mail it in premail remail

Verb Entry 5

  1. To arm with mail.
  2. To pinion.

Forms

mails mailing mailed maille