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mail

- 15 dictionary results

mail

1  [meyl]
Use mail in a Sentence
–noun
1. letters, packages, etc., that are sent or delivered by means of the postal system: Storms delayed delivery of the mail.
2. a single collection of such letters, packages, etc., as sent or delivered: to open one's mail; to find a bill in the mail; The mail for England was put on the noon plane.
3. Also, mails. the system, usually operated or supervised by the national government, for sending or delivering letters, packages, etc.; postal system: to buy clothes by mail.
4. a train, boat, etc., as a carrier of postal matter.
5. electronic mail; e-mail.
–adjective
6. of or pertaining to mail.
–verb (used with object)
7. to send by mail; place in a post office or mailbox for transmission.
8. to transmit by electronic mail.
—Idiom
9. copy the mail, Citizens Band Radio Slang. to monitor or listen to a CB transmission.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME male (n.) < OF malle < Gmc; cf. OHG mal(a)ha satchel, bag

mail

2  [meyl]
–noun
1. flexible armor of interlinked rings.
2. any flexible armor or covering, as one having a protective exterior of scales or small plates.
3. Textiles. an oval piece of metal pierced with a hole through which the warp ends are threaded, serving as an eyelet on a heddle or esp. on the harness cords of a Jacquard loom.
–verb (used with object)
4. to clothe or arm with mail.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME maille one of the rings of which armor was composed < OF < L macula spot, one of the interstices in a net; cf. macula

Related forms:
mailless, adjective

mail

3  [meyl]
–noun Scot.
monetary payment or tribute, esp. rent or tax.
Also, maill.

Origin:
bef. 1150; ME (north) mal(e), late OE māl agreement < ON māl agreement, speech, c. OE mǣl speech
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To mail
mail 1   (māl)   
n.  
    1. Materials, such as letters and packages, handled in a postal system.
    2. Postal material for a specific person or organization.
    3. Material processed for distribution from a post office at a specified time: the morning mail.
  2. A system by which letters, packages, and other postal materials are transported. Used in the plural with the.
  3. A vehicle by which mail is transported.
  4. Mail or messages sent electronically; e-mail.
v.   mailed, mail·ing, mails

v.   tr.
To send by mail.
v.   intr.
To send letters and other postal material by mail.

[Middle English male, bag, from Old French, of Germanic origin.]
mail'a·ble adj., mail'a·bil'i·ty n.
mail 2   (māl)   
n.  
  1. Flexible armor composed of small overlapping metal rings, loops of chain, or scales.
  2. The protective covering of certain animals, as the shell of a turtle.
tr.v.   mailed, mail·ing, mails
To cover or armor with mail.

[Middle English, from Old French maile, from Latin macula, blemish, mesh.]
mail 3   (māl)   
n.   Scots
Rent, payment, or tribute.

[Middle English mol, maile, from Old Norse māl, lawsuit.]
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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Mail

Mail\, n. A spot. [Obs.]

Mail

Mail\, n. [F. maille, OF. also maaille, LL. medalia. See Medal.]

1. A small piece of money; especially, an English silver half-penny of the time of Henry V. [Obs.] [Written also maile, and maille.]

2. Rent; tribute. [Obs., except in certain compounds and phrases, as blackmail, mails and duties, etc.]

Mail and duties (Scots Law), the rents of an estate, in whatever form paid.

Mail

Mail\, n. [OE. maile, maille, F. maille a ring of mail, mesh, network, a coat of mail, fr. L. macula spot, a mesh of a net. Cf. Macle, Macula, Mascle.]

1. A flexible fabric made of metal rings interlinked. It was used especially for defensive armor. --Chaucer.

Chain mail, Coat of mail. See under Chain, and Coat.

2. Hence generally, armor, or any defensive covering.

3. (Naut.) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.

4. (Zo["o]l.) 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. --Gay.

Mail

Mail\, v. t. 1. To arm with mail.

2. To pinion. [Obs.]

Mail

Mail\, n. [OE. male bag, OF. male, F. malle bag, trunk, mail, OHG. malaha, malha, wallet; akin to D. maal, male; cf. Gael. & Ir. mala, Gr. ? hide, skin.]

1. A bag; a wallet. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

2. The bag or bags with the letters, papers, papers, or other matter contained therein, conveyed under public authority from one post office to another; the whole system of appliances used by government in the conveyance and delivery of mail matter.

There is a mail come in to-day, with letters dated Hague. --Tatler.

3. That which comes in the mail; letters, etc., received through the post office.

4. A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried. [Obs.] --Sir W. Scott.

Mail bag, a bag in which mailed matter is conveyed under public authority.

Mail boat, a boat that carries the mail.

Mail catcher, an iron rod, or other contrivance, attached to a railroad car for catching a mail bag while the train is in motion.

Mail guard, an officer whose duty it is to guard the public mails. [Eng.]

Mail train, a railroad train carrying the mail.

Mail

Mail\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Mailing.] To deliver into the custody of the postoffice officials, or place in a government letter box, for transmission by mail; to post; as, to mail a letter. [U. S.]

Note: In the United States to mail and to post are both in common use; as, to mail or post a letter. In England post is the commoner usage.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : mail
Spanish: correo, cartas, correspondencia,
German: die Post,
Japanese: 郵便
More Translations »

mail  (1)
"post, letters," c.1205, "a traveling bag," from O.Fr. male "wallet, bag," from Frank. *malha, from P.Gmc. *malho- (cf. O.H.G. malaha "wallet, bag," M.Du. male "bag"), from PIE *molko- "skin, bag." Sense extension to "letters and parcels" (18c.) is via "bag full of letter" (1654) or "person or vehicle who carries postal matter" (1654). In 19c. England, mail was letters going abroad, while home dispatches were post. Sense of "personal batch of letters" is from 1844, originally Amer.Eng. Mailman is from 1881; mail-order is from 1875. The verb is 1828, Amer.Eng. E-mail is from 1982, shortened from electronic mail (1977); this led to the contemptuous application of snail mail (1983) to the old system.

mail  (2)
"metal ring armor," c.1320, from O.Fr. maille "link of mail, mesh of net," from L. macula "mesh in a net," originally "spot, blemish," on notion that the gaps in a net or mesh looked like spots.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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mail messaging
1. electronic mail.
2. The Berkeley Unix program for composing and reading electronic mail. It normally uses sendmail to handle delivery.
Unix manual page: mail(1)
(1997-12-03)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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