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Dead letter

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Dead Letter
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dead letter

 
Use Dead letter in a Sentence
–noun
1. a law, ordinance, etc., that has lost its force but has not been formally repealed or abolished.
2. a letter that cannot reach the addressee or be returned to the sender, usually because of incorrect address, and that is sent to and handled in a special division or department (dead-letter office) of a general post office.
Origin:
1570–80

Related forms:
dead-letter, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Dead Letter
Characters, Themes, Analysis Commentary and More, $5.99
BookRags.com
dead letter  
n.  

  1. An unclaimed or undelivered letter that after a period of time is destroyed or returned to the sender by the postal service.

  2. A law, directive, or factor still formally in effect but no longer valid or enforced.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
dead letter

  1. n.
    a letter that cannot move through the post office because the addressee does not exist or because the address is wrong or illegible. (Standard English.) : Every now and then they open the dead letters to see if they can figure out who they were meant for.
  2. n.
    an issue that does not matter anymore. : This contract is a dead letter. Forget it!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Idioms & Phrases

dead letter

  1. An unclaimed or undelivered letter that is eventually destroyed or returned to the sender. For example, She moved without leaving a forwarding address, so her mail ended up in the dead letter office. [c. 1700]

  2. A statute or directive that is still valid but in practice is not enforced. For example, The blue laws here are a dead letter; all the stores open on Sundays and holidays. [Second half of 1600s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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