mail
n 1: the bags of letters and packages that are transported by
the postal service
2: the system whereby messages are transmitted via the post
office; "the mail handles billions of items every day"; "he
works for the United States mail service"; "in England they
call mail `the post'" [syn: {mail}, {mail service}, {postal
service}, {post}]
3: a conveyance that transports the letters and packages that
are conveyed by the postal system
4: any particular collection of letters or packages that is
delivered; "your mail is on the table"; "is there any post
for me?"; "she was opening her post" [syn: {mail}, {post}]
5: (Middle Ages) flexible armor made of interlinked metal rings
[syn: {chain mail}, {ring mail}, {mail}, {chain armor},
{chain armour}, {ring armor}, {ring armour}]
v 1: send via the postal service; "I'll mail you the check
tomorrow" [syn: {mail}, {get off}]
2: cause to be directed or transmitted to another place; "send
me your latest results"; "I'll mail you the paper when it's
written" [syn: {mail}, {post}, {send}]
Mail \Mail\ (m[=a]l), n.
A spot. [Obs.]
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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}.]
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2. Rent; tribute. [Obs., except in certain compounds and
phrases, as blackmail, mails and duties, etc.]
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{Mail and duties} (Scots Law), the rents of an estate, in
whatever form paid.
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Mail \Mail\ (m[=a]l), 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.
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{Chain mail}, {Coat of mail}. See under {Chain}, and {Coat}.
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2. Hence generally, armor, or any defensive covering.
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3. (Naut.) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing
off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
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4. (Zool.) Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the
scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
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We . . . strip the lobster of his scarlet mail.
--Gay.
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Mail \Mail\, v. t.
1. To arm with mail.
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2. To pinion. [Obs.]
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Mail \Mail\ (m[=a]l), 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. molgo`s hide, skin.]
1. A bag; a wallet. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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2. The bag or bags with the letters, 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.
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There is a mail come in to-day, with letters dated
Hague. --Tatler.
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3. That which comes in the mail; letters, etc., received
through the post office.
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4. A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be
carried. [Obs.] --Sir W. Scott.
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{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.
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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.]
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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.
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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)
MAIL. This word, derived from the French malle, a trunk, signifies the bag,
valise, or other contrivance used in conveying through the post office,
letters, packets, newspapers, pamphlets, and the like, from place to place,
under the authority of the United States. The things thus carried are also
called the mail.
2. The laws of the United States have provided for the punishment of
robberies or willful injuries to the mail; the act of March 3, 1825, 3
Story's Laws U. S. 1985, provides:
Sec. 22. That if any person shall rob any carrier of the mail of the
United States, or other person entrusted, therewith, of such mail, or of
part thereof, such offender or offenders shall, on conviction, be imprisoned
not less than five years, nor exceeding ten years; and, if convicted a
second time of a like offence, he or they shall suffer death; or if, in
effecting such robbery of the mail, the first time, the offender shall wound
the person having the custody thereof, or put his life in jeopardy, by the
use of dangerous weapons, such offender or offenders shall suffer death. And
if any person shall attempt to rob the mail of the United States, by
assaulting the person having custody thereof, shooting at him, or his horse
or mule, or, threatening him with dangerous weapons, and the robbery is not
effected, every such offender, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment, not less than two years, nor exceeding ten years. And, if any
person shall steal the mail, or shall steal or take from, or out of, any
mail, or from, or out of, any post office, any letter or packet; or, if any
person shall take the mail, or any letter or packet therefrom, or from any
post office, whether with or without the consent of the person having
custody thereof, and shall open, embezzle, or destroy any such; mail,
letter, or packet, the same containing any articles of value, or evidence of
any debt, due, demand, right, or claim, or any release, receipt,
acquittance, or discharge, or any other articles, paper, or thing, mentioned
and described in the twenty-first section of this act; or, if any person
shall, by fraud or deception, obtain from any person having custody thereof,
any mail, letter, or packet, containing any article of value, or evidence
thereof, or either of the writings referred to, or next above mentioned,
such offender, or offenders, on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned not
less than two, nor exceeding ten years. And if any person shall take any
letter, or packet, not containing any article of value, or. evidence
thereof, out of a post office, or shall open any letter or packet, which
shall have been in a post office, or in custody of a mail carrier, before it
shall have been delivered to the person to whom it is directed, with a
design to obstruct the correspondence, to pry into another's business or
secrets; or shall secrete, embezzle, or destroy, any such mall, letter, or
packet, such offender, upon conviction, shall pay, for every such offence, a
sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding
twelve months.
3.-Sec. 23. That, if any person shall rip, cut, tear, burn, or
otherwise injure, any valise, portmanteau, or other bag used, or designed to
be used, by any person acting under the authority of the postmaster general,
or any person in whom his powers are vested in a conveyance of any mail,
letter packet, or newspaper, or pamphlet, or shall draw or break any staple,
or loosen any part of any lock, chain, or strap, attached to, or belonging
to any such valise, portmanteau, or bag, with an intent to rob, or steal any
mail, letter, packet, newspaper, or pamphlet, or to render either of the
same insecure, every such offender, upon conviction, shall, for every such
offence, pay a sum, not less than one hundred dollars, nor exceeding five
hundred-dollars, or be imprisoned not less than one year, nor exceeding
three years, at the discretion of the court before whom such conviction is
had.
4.-Sec. 24. That every person who, from and after the passage of this
act, shall procure, and advise, or assist, in the doing or perpetration of
any of the acts or crimes by this act forbidden, shall be subject to the
same penalties and punishments as the persons are subject to, who shall
actually do or perpetrate any of the said acts or crimes, according, to the
provision of this act.
5.- Sec. 25. That every person who shall be imprisoned by a judgment of
court, under and by virtue of the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third,
or, twenty-fourth sections of this act, shall be kept at hard labor during
the period of such imprisonment.
105 Moby Thesaurus words for "mail": PP, RD, RFD, air-express, airfreight, airmail, armature, armor, armor plate, body armor, book post, buckler, bulletproof vest, carrier, carrier pigeon, chain armor, chain mail, chitin, coat of mail, consign, correspondence, cortex, covert, direct mail, direct-mail selling, dispatch, drop a letter, elytron, embark, episperm, expedite, export, express, feather, feathers, forward, fourth-class mail, frank, freight, habergeon, hackle, halfpenny post, harness, hauberk, homer, homing pigeon, junk mail, letter post, letters, lorica, lorication, mail car, mail coach, mail packet, mail train, mail truck, mail-order selling, mailer, mailing list, mailplane, needles, newspaper post, packet boat, panoply, parcel post, pericarp, pigeon post, plate, plate armor, plumage, post, post boat, post car, post coach, post day, post-horse, post-office car, poster, protective covering, railway mail car, registered mail, remit, rural delivery, rural free delivery, scute, scutum, sea mail, seapost, send, send away, send forth, send off, shell, shield, ship, special delivery, special handling, speculum, spines, suit of armor, surface mail, test, testa, thick skin, transmit