dead letter

dead letter

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a law, ordinance, etc., that has lost its force but has not been formally repealed or abolished.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

dead-let·ter, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Dead letter is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
Collins
World English Dictionary
dead letter
 
n
1.  a letter that cannot be delivered or returned because it lacks adequate directions
2.  a law or ordinance that is no longer enforced but has not been formally repealed
3.  informal anything considered no longer worthy of consideration

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Slang Dictionary

dead letter definition


  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.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
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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