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单词 mail
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mailn.1

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/, Scottish English /mel/
Forms: Old English–Middle English mal, Middle English maile, Middle English mol, Middle English–1500s male, Middle English–1800s maill, 1500s– mail, 1600s maille, 1600s–1700s meal; Scottish pre-1700 maell, pre-1700 maile, pre-1700 maille, pre-1700 mal, pre-1700 mall, pre-1700 malle, pre-1700 mayall, pre-1700 mayl, pre-1700 mayll, pre-1700 maylle, pre-1700 meale, pre-1700 meil, pre-1700 meill, pre-1700 mele, pre-1700 mell, pre-1700 melle, pre-1700 1700s meal, pre-1700 1700s meall, pre-1700 1700s– mail, pre-1700 1700s– maill, pre-1700 1700s– male.
Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian.
Etymology: < early Scandinavian: compare Old Icelandic mál speech, agreement (probably a contracted form (like Middle Low German māl meeting) of the Germanic word which appears as Old English mæðel discussion, meeting: see mallum n.), although in sense the English word corresponds more to the derivative represented by Old Icelandic máli contract, stipulation, stipulated pay.Uncompounded, the word has survived only in Scots and in northern dialects, and hence its phonetic form is northern and its spelling Scots; the southern form, witnessed by quots. a1200 at main sense, ?a1300 at main sense, survived down to the 17th cent. in the compound molland n. Many scholars take Maldon 212 to show an Old English mǣl ‘speech’, cognate with or formed similarly to the Old Icelandic word, although others read as mǣl ‘occasion’ meal n.2; the interpretation of the form mæl in Waldere 1 19, taken by some as showing an Old English mǣl paralleling Old Icelandic mál in legal use, is also disputed.
Now Scottish and historical.
Payment, tax, tribute, rent. In O.E. also: †agreement, deal (obsolete). mails and duties: the rents of an estate. Cf. blackmail n.Also with word prefixed: see burrow-mail n., feu n. Compounds 1, grass mail n. at grass n.1 Compounds 5, house n.1 and int. Compounds 10, land-male n. at land n.1 Compounds 3, rental n. Compounds 1b, retour n. Compounds 2, silver n. and adj. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > [noun]
yieldc950
tollc1000
tolne1023
mailOE
lotlOE
ransomc1325
tail1340
pensiona1387
contribution1387
scat gild14..
due1423
responsionc1447
impositionc1460
devoirs1503
excisea1513
toloney1517
impost1569
cast1597
levy1640
responde1645
reprise1818
OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1049 Eadwerd cing scylode ix scypa of male.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1086 Se cyng sealde his land swa deore to male, swa heo deorost mihte.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10188 Forrþi badd hemm sannt iohan..sammnenn laȝhelike. & rihht Þe kingess rihhte male.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 179 And giet ne wile þe louerd ben paid mid his rihcte mol.
?a1300 Vision St. Paul (Digby) 161 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1879) 62 404/2 Of men hoe taken hounriȝt mol.
1396 in Sc. Antiquary (1900) 14 217 The forsayd Scher Jone sal haf the malys of Ouchtyrtyre.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 5376 I gif him wonynge stede to wale for euermare, wiþ-outen male.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 96 The cristin men, yat ar duelland jn the mistrowand menis housis vndermalis, suld be lele to thair malaris, and obeisand.
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Wolf & Lamb l. 2754 in Poems (1981) 102 Scantlie may he purches by his maill To leue vpon dry breid.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xv. 97 The malis and fermis of the grond..is hychtit to sic ane price.
1622 Linlithgow Burgh Rec. 25 Oct. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) Na flescheris to ber any mal of the standes.
1746–7 Act 20 Geo. II c. 43 §17 Recovering and uplifting from the vassals..the mails and duties or rents and profits thereof.
a1768 J. Erskine Inst. Law Scotl. (1773) II. iii. vii. §20. 529 The arrears of rent, or, in our law-style, of mails and duties, prescribe, if [etc.].
1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet I. xi. 232 The rental-book..bore evidence against the Goodman of Primrose-Knowe, as behind the hand with his mails and duties.
1861 G. Ross W. Bell's Dict. Law Scotl. (rev. ed.) (at cited word) Maills and Duties are the rents of an estate, whether in money or grain; hence, an action for the rents of an estate..is termed an action of maills and duties.
1900 S. R. Crockett Little Anna Mark viii He carried a great sum about with him, being the rents and mails of all his New Milns property.
1969 J. Fowles French Lieutenant's Woman xxvi. 205 If one cherished one's crops or one's daughter's virginity one paid mail to the neighbourhood chieftains.

Phrases

† figurative. to pay the mail: to pay the penalty. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1807 J. Hogg Mountain Bard 199 in Poet. Wks. (1838) II. 263 My sister..By Lairistan foully was betrayed, And roundly has he payed the mail.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.
† mail-payer n. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > tenure of property > one who has tenure > [noun] > leaseholder or tenant
kindly tenanta1325
tenant1377
mailer1392
farmer1414
renter1444
takerc1450
fee-farmer1468
lessee1495
mail-man?a1500
tacksman1533
land-tenant1543
rentaller1553
fermerera1572
tenementer1574
mail-payer1597
inholdera1599
feu-farmer1609
leaseholder1858
leaser1877
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione Firmarius, ane mail-payer, ane mailer, or mail-man.
1724 A. Ramsay Vision in Ever Green I. ix Mailpayers wiss it to the devil.
1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess ii. 100 The best mail-payer's son that e'er buir hair.
† mail-paying n. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > payment > [noun] > action of paying
payment1389
payingc1390
solution1489
mail-paying1581
settlement1729
paying out1863
pestering1936
1581 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1880) 1st Ser. III. 417 Throw the quhilk waist, maill~paying, and tyning of the proffites of the saidis landis, he is utterlie wrakkit.
C2.
mail duty n. rent.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [noun]
gavela1121
rentc1300
rental1441
gavelagec1450
rentage1633
mail duty1638
galea1687
wayleave1729
1638 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1876) I. 392 That na burges..sett or promeis to sett for maill dewtie or vtherwayes,..wntill [etc.].
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 191 Deans..contrived to maintain his ground upon the estate by regular payment of mail duties.
mail-free adj. and adv. free of rent, exempt from payment of rent.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [adjective] > liable to pay rent > exempt from payment of rent
mail-free1471
rent-free1556
rentless1850
grace and favour1886
1471 in T. Thomson Acts Lords Auditors (1839) 10/2 Male fre fore þe formale pait be him to þe said Alexander.
1638 S. Rutherford Lett. (1664) iii. 14 Many..of you..have been like a tennent that sitteth mealfree.
1827 C. I. Johnstone Elizabeth de Bruce I. xv Meg, to her dying day, held a cow's-grass mail-free for that night's work.
mail garden n. a market garden.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > garden > [noun] > market-garden
market garden1727
mail garden1798
1798 J. Naismith Agric. Clydesdale vi. 101 The mail gardens around the city of Glasgow.
1845 New Statist. Acct. Scotl. I. 290 A considerable extent of ground in the immediate vicinity of the town, occupied as mail-gardens.
mail-gardener n. a person who works a mail garden.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > gardener > [noun] > types of gardener
arborist1578
nursery gardener1629
nurseryman1629
raiser1707
kitchen gardener1709
market gardener1727
curator1761
landscape-gardenera1763
plannerc1770
mail-gardener1798
landscape architect1863
trucker1868
plantsman1881
weekend gardener1884
groundsman1886
rock gardener1886
tea-gardener1903
landscapist1936
wild gardener1966
1798 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. XX. 184 A mail-gardener is much wanted: greens and roots are brought..from Kilmarnock.
1820 W. Scott Abbot III. viii. 247 The candle shines from the house of Blinkhoolie, the mail-gardener.
† mail-man n. [compare earlier molman n. and post-classical Latin forms cited s.v.] Obsolete a person who pays rent, a tenant.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > tenure of property > one who has tenure > [noun] > leaseholder or tenant
kindly tenanta1325
tenant1377
mailer1392
farmer1414
renter1444
takerc1450
fee-farmer1468
lessee1495
mail-man?a1500
tacksman1533
land-tenant1543
rentaller1553
fermerera1572
tenementer1574
mail-payer1597
inholdera1599
feu-farmer1609
leaseholder1858
leaser1877
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Wolf & Lamb l. 2708 in Poems (1981) 100 The pure pepill..As maill men, merchandis, and all lauboureris.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem 113 Na Mail-man, or Fermour, may thirle his Lord of his frie tenement.
1627 Rep. Parishes Scotl. (1835) 8 My parishiners..being maillmen and in usse to pay for the teindis.
† mailmart n. [compare post-classical Latin malemarta, mailemarta, mailmarta (from 1459 in Scottish sources)] Scottish Obsolete an ox or cow paid as or in lieu of rent.
ΚΠ
1440 in J. Stuart & G. Burnett Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1882) V. 88 Expense martarum, qui dicuntur malemartis, de dictis insulis [sc. Arran and Bute].
1445 in J. Stuart & G. Burnett Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1882) V. 213 Lez mailmartis insule de Bute.
1592 Breadalbane Court Bk. f. 39, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Male For owt putting of the best of thair merttis in defraude of the lairdis meill merttis.
† mail-rooms n. Obsolete rare rented rooms.
ΚΠ
c1626 E. Meluill Let. in W. K. Tweedie Select Biogr. (1845) I. 351 He warned me from the rest of my mail-rooms in Salt-coats and East Mains.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

mailn.2

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/
Forms: Middle English maile, Middle English malyce (plural), Middle English mayll, Middle English maylle, Middle English mel- (in compounds, probably transmission error), Middle English–1500s malle, Middle English–1700s male, 1500s maale, 1500s–1700s mayle, 1500s– mail; Scottish pre-1700 maill, pre-1700 male, pre-1700 maull, pre-1700 mayl, pre-1700 mayle, pre-1700 mayll, pre-1700 meal, pre-1700 meale, pre-1700 meall, pre-1700 mell, pre-1700 1700s– mail.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French male, malle.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman male, maele, meole, Old French male (a1105), Middle French, French malle < a Germanic word represented by Middle Dutch māle (Dutch maal ), Old High German malaha , malha (Middle High German malhe ). In sense 2 probably after Middle French, French malle in spec. sense ‘courier's bag for letters’ (1569, now preserved in this sense only in Canadian French, probably through influence of the English word). From Old French male, Middle French, French malle are Old Occitan mala (13th cent.), Italian †mala (13th cent.), †malla (18th cent.), Spanish mala (1734), Portuguese mala (1813). Compare also post-classical Latin mala (11th cent.; from 12th cent. in British sources), malla (1274).Although the reflexes of Middle English ā and ai fell together in the standard language in the early modern period, it is unusual for a word with Middle English ā to show a modern standard spelling in -ai- ; disambiguation from male adj. and n.1 or analogy with mail n.3 are perhaps the likeliest explanations.
1.
a. A bag, pack, or wallet; a travelling bag, a portmanteau. In later use Scottish and U.S. in plural: baggage. †Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [noun] > luggage > travelling bag > hand-held
mailc1275
clothesack1393
cloak-bagc1540
portmanteau1553
valance?a1562
pockmanty1575
cap-case1577
cloak-bearer1580
night baga1618
valisea1630
toilet1656
Roger1665
shirt case1823
weekend case1827
carpet-bag1830
holdall1851
handbag1859
suitcase1873
sample case1875
gripsack1877
case1879
grip1879
Gladstone (bag)1882
traveller1895
vanity-case1913
luggage1915
revelation1923
two-suiter1923
overnight bag1925
one-suiter1933
suiter1933
overnight case1934
Samsonite1939
flight bag1943
Pullman1946
grip-bag1958
overnighter1959
carry-on1960
Vuitton1975
go bag1991
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 3543 Ich þe wulle bi-tache a male riche.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 48 A man that bore..gold up-on hijs bac, In a male with or blac.
c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) 1297 (MED) Inouȝ a leide him be-fore, Bred and flesc out of is male.
c1395 G. Chaucer Canon's Yeoman's Tale 566 A male tweyfolde on his croper lay.
1474 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 592 I prey yow that Pytt may trusse in a male..my tawny gowne.
1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI c. 15 §2 Such as make Males, Bougets, Leather Pots,..or any other Wares of Leather.
1567 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. (1833) I. i. 493 To tak up ane carriage of twa maills, the ane ane tronk, and the vthir ane ane leddirin mail.
a1600 T. Deloney Thomas of Reading (1612) xi. sig. Giv They..tooke away the mans apparell, as also his money, in his male or capcase.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. 1 Kings ix. 7 The bread is spent in our males.
1653 Edinb. Test. LXVII. f. 9v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Male, Mail(l Tua lairge maills with hatt caisis.
1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon ii. vii. 335 His Jewels..were lock'd up in a little iron Chest, and carried in a Male.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Mail,..also a kind of Port-mantle, Sack or Trunk to travel with.
1820 W. Scott Abbot III. xi. 351 They charged me with bearing letters for the Queen, and searched my mail.
1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona xvii. 190 He..emptied out his mails upon the floor that I might have a change of clothes.
1923 J. Buchan Midwinter (1924) iv. 77 Awa in wi' ye and get warm, and I'll bring your mails.
†b. Something likened to a bag; esp. the stomach or belly. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
?a1300 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Digby) xxiv, in Anglia (1881) 4 195 (MED) Þe glotoun, þer he fint goed ale, He doþ so muchel in his male.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 22 Quhu lucifer, ðat deuel Dwale..held hem sperd in helles male.
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 26 Vnbokele and shewe vs what is in thy male.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) ix. 206 Yif ye shal telle your owne tale..Ye will vnclose but a litil male, Shewe of your vices but a smal parcel.
a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk Instr. Parish Priests (Claud.) (1974) 1230 (MED) Art þow I-wonet to go to þe ale To fulle þere thy fowle male?
c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Order of Fools (Laud) in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 455 (MED) Tabourerys..Plese more this daies whan stuffed in ther male.
†c. figurative. In phrases the mail wries (also wrings): fortune turns, things turn out (usually badly); to wring (a person) on the mails: to cause trouble to. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > be in adversity [verb (intransitive)] > endure hardships > there is a state of hardship
the mail wries (also wrings)c1450
the mind > emotion > suffering > state of annoyance or vexation > be annoyed or vexed by [verb (transitive)] > annoy or vex
gremec893
dretchc900
awhenec1000
teenOE
fretc1290
annoyc1300
atrayc1320
encumberc1330
diseasec1340
grindc1350
distemperc1386
offenda1387
arra1400
avexa1400
derea1400
miscomforta1400
angerc1400
engrievec1400
vex1418
molesta1425
entrouble?1435
destroublea1450
poina1450
rubc1450
to wring (a person) on the mailsc1450
disprofit1483
agrea1492
trouble1515
grig1553
mis-set?1553
nip?1553
grate1555
gripe1559
spitec1563
fike?1572
gall1573
corsie1574
corrosive1581
touch1581
disaccommodate1586
macerate1588
perplex1590
thorn1592
exulcerate1593
plague1595
incommode1598
affret1600
brier1601
to gall or tread on (one's) kibes1603
discommodate1606
incommodate1611
to grate on or upon1631
disincommodate1635
shog1636
ulcerate1647
incommodiate1650
to put (a person) out of his (her, etc.) way1653
discommodiate1654
discommode1657
ruffle1659
regrate1661
disoblige1668
torment1718
pesta1729
chagrin1734
pingle1740
bothera1745
potter1747
wherrit1762
to tweak the nose of1784
to play up1803
tout1808
rasp1810
outrage1818
worrit1818
werrit1825
buggerlug1850
taigle1865
get1867
to give a person the pip1881
to get across ——1888
nark1888
eat1893
to twist the tail1895
dudgeon1906
to tweak the tail of1909
sore1929
to put up1930
wouldn't it rip you!1941
sheg1943
to dick around1944
cheese1946
to pee off1946
to honk off1970
to fuck off1973
to tweak (a person's or thing's) tail1977
to tweak (a person's or thing's) nose1983
to wind up1984
to dick about1996
to-teen-
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. 2219 (MED) Hough acordeth this tale? Al a wrong, me thenketh, wriheth the male.
c1475 Advice to Lovers in J. O. Halliwell Select. Minor Poems J. Lydgate (1840) 43 (MED) The male so wryes That no kunnyng may prevayl..Ayens a wommans wytt.
c1522 J. Skelton Why come ye nat to Courte 75 The countrynge at Cales Wrang vs on the males.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. C.i Though his father were a kyng Yet there was a thyng That made tha male to wryng.
a1529 J. Skelton Colyn Cloute (?1545) sig. C.i And so they blere your eye Howe the male dothe wryte.
†d. A bag as a measure of quantity. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > the scientific measurement of volume > measure(s) of capacity > [noun] > dry measure > specific dry measure units > bag or sack as unit
pokec1300
sack1314
pocket1350
quarter-sackc1422
mailc1503
bag1679
sugar-bag1963
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. lxxiij/2 Wulle is bought by the sacke by the tod, by the stone and by the mayle.
2.
a. A bag or packet of letters or dispatches for conveyance by post (more fully †mail of letters). In later use chiefly: the postal matter (or a quantity of letters, packages, etc.) conveyed in this manner; all that is conveyed by post on one occasion. With definite article or without article. Also (chiefly in North American usage) in plural, and (chiefly South Asian) with indefinite article.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > mail > [noun]
post1646
mail of letters1654
postal matter1869
mailshot1963
mailout1977
society > communication > correspondence > letter > mail > [noun] > packet or bag of
packet?a1450
mail1654
1654 Ord. Office Postage Lett. §8 To have in readiness one good Horse or Mare to receive and carry the Male of Letters... That no other person (besides the Post that carrieth the Male) be suffered to ride Post with the Male.
1684 London Gaz. No. 1900/2 Our Pacquet-Boats put to Sea yesterday with the Mails for Calais.
1692 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 489 Yesterday a Flanders mail of an old date, confirms the several repulses of the enemy.
1711 Boston News-let. 7 May 2/2 The Mayle of Letters from Boston on Saturday next per the Post.
1746 T. Smollett Reproof 160 With all the horrors of prophetic dread That rack his bosom while the mail is read.
1767 G. Colman Eng. Merchant i. i. 8 I collect the articles of news from the other papers..translate the mails, write occasional letters [etc.].
1776 C. Carroll Jrnl. (1845) 53 Dr. Franklin found in the Canada mail, which he opened, a letter for General Schuyler.
1782 W. Cowper Expostulation in Poems 606 Now think,..If the new mail thy merchants now receive, Or expectation of the next, give leave.
1792 Stat. U.S. (1856) I. i. vii. §17. 237 That if any person..shall rob any carrier of the mail..of such mail, or if any person shall rob the mail, in which letters are sent to be conveyed by post..or shall steal such mail.
1794 Stat. U.S. (1856) I. i. xxiii. §26. 365 And the letters so received shall be formed into a mail, sealed up, and directed to the postmaster of the port.
1838 Act 1 & 2 Victoria c. 98 §5 The Mails or Post Letter Bags so to be carried..by Railways.
1852 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 8 Sept. in Amer. Notebks. (1972) viii. 524 John's boat, (the regular passenger-boat) is now coming in, and probably brings the mail.
1873 W. Black Princess of Thule vii. 119 Everything will be as right as the mail.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxii. 441 I think this office gives us three times as much mail as that at Salt Lake.
1883 Whitaker's Almanack 384 [Postal Guide.] India.—Mails made up every Friday evening at the rate of 5d. per ½ oz.
1893 Daily News 22 Sept. 6/5 Little incidents of camp life in the East, as the arrival and distribution of a mail of letters.
1913 U.S. Official Postal Guide July 12 The postage on fourth-class mail may be prepaid by..ordinary postage stamps.
1941 Men Only Sept. 12 Forwarding mail is another job that usually falls to the Mess Secretary.
1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 45 When Mother asked him if he were really going to post the letter.., he swore that this one was going to the mail.
1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 46 The mail closes tomorrow.
b. Used in the titles of newspapers.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > journalism > journal > newspaper > [noun] > titles of newspapers
observator1642
mercury1643
post1645
examiner1710
echo1729
times1788
mail1789
messenger1796
thunderer1830
anti-Jacobin1867
Trib1878
Nikkei1982
1789 (title) The Evening Mail.
1823 (title) Waterford Daily Mail.
1896 (title) The daily mail.
1896 D. Lloyd George Family Lett. (1973) 108 There are excellent reports in the Mail & S.W. Daily News of Saturday's meeting at Barry.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. x. [Wandering Rocks] 236 Look here Martin, John Wyse Nolan said, overtaking them at the Mail office.
1975 Times 10 Apr. 17/4 The tremendous financial support that the Daily Mail has received..from its readers for its Vietnam Orphans Fund.
1990 Guardian 28 May 21/3 Baz Babigoyne of the Mail says he was called a ‘smear-agent of the Right’.
c. Originally U.S. The letters, packages, etc., delivered to or intended for one address or individual.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > mail > [noun] > person's batch of
maila1844
postbag1898
a1844 M. C. Field in S. F. Smith Theatr. Apprenticeship (1846) 204 He walks as if he had the missing mail in his pocket and an extra to issue immediately.
1890 T. L. James in Railways Amer. 319 That official was opening his mail.
1901 Harper's Mag. 102 784/1 Stormfield in his mail that day..found a despatch: ‘Unexpectedly called home’.
1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 3 Sept. 7/4 Mr. Lattimore..had his personal mail forwarded to the White House.
1992 Daily Express 8 June 1/2 Diana was so paranoid about Palace intrusion, she..shredded all her mail.
d. Australian slang. Information, rumour, news; esp. a (racing) tip.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > [noun] > piece of
somewhatc1175
communication1481
informationa1527
intelligence1570
adviso1591
intelligencies1623
data1645
footnote1711
steer1899
mail1975
1966 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. (ed. 2) 77 Along with the variations mulga mail (or wire), it [sc. mulga] can mean a source of rumour.]
1975 Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Apr. 44/2 His mail was that if I didn't weigh in soon I'd be gathered for sure.
1983 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 27 Mar. 66/6 The mail is the Minister for Sport, Mike Cleary, is wary of new betting introductions following footie flop.
1984 Age (Melbourne) 19 Sept. 38/2 I had never heard of the horse before. I didn't receive any special ‘mail’ on it, but I've gone to races all my life—money speaks all languages.
3. A person, vehicle, or train that carries the mail or postal matter; often short for mail coach, train, van, etc. Also (chiefly North American and Australian): the system of conveyance and delivery of letters, etc., by post (also in plural); the official organization responsible for this activity in a particular country; the post.The term mail (as distinguished from post) is currently dominant in North America and Australia, both for the system itself and the material carried. New Zealand retains post for the postal system, but mail otherwise. Britain favours post in both contexts. However, this pattern is not necessarily maintained in historically fixed collocations, such as Royal Mail, Post Office, Canada Post, Australia Post, parcel post, junk mail, etc. In the United Kingdom the word was formerly limited in ordinary use to the dispatch of letters abroad, as the Indian mail, etc., or as short for mail-train.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun]
pauchle1608
postage1650
mail1654
Royal Mail?1780
snail mail1929
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun]
mail1654
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > railway vehicle
mail coach1838
mail train1839
mail car1842
night mail1842
post-office car1851
mail1862
postal car1864
postal1891
1654 Ord. Office Postage Lett. §2 The said John Manley..shall..safely and faithfully carry all..Letters and Dispatches..and that by the Common, Ordinary Male or other speedy and safe passage.
1692 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 489 One letter by the last mail sayes, the king intended to fight the enemy Satturday 7 night last.
1720 London Gaz. No. 5850/2 The Bristol Mail was robbed.
1778 A. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 343 Four or five sheets of paper, written to you by the last mail, were destroyed when the vessel was taken.
1794 S. T. Coleridge Lett. 26 Sept. (1895) I. 86 I..sent them off by the mail directed to Mrs. Southey.
1831 in Parl. Papers (1831–2) XLV. 128 b When it is permitted in England for the mails to take parcels on the road.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Walking to Mail in Poems (new ed.) II. 52 I fear That we shall miss the mail.
1856 T. De Quincey Confessions Eng. Opium-eater (rev. ed.) in Select. Grave & Gay V. 155 The mails were..made so strong as to be the heaviest of all carriages.
1861 Amer. Agriculturist July 197/1 Useful information in regard to all matters connected with the Mails, Post Offices, etc.
1862 Building News 6 June 389/2, 555 Locomotives and Tenders. 494 First Class Mails.
1880 Printing Trades Jrnl. No. 30. 34 Tender and brittle, and hardly bears its journey through the mail.
1888 Amer. Humorist 2 June 3/2 Why didn't he send his poem by mail?
1891 37th Rept. Postm.-General 5 Sixty-four additional direct Parcel Mails between London and other places have been established in the year.
1900 Post Office Guide 1 Jan. 14 When intended for despatch by a particular mail they should..be presented for registration half an hour before the closing of the letter-box for that mail.
1912 Railroad Man's Mag. 17 493 The manifest freight Pulled out on the stem behind the mail.
1938 Time 14 Nov. 84/2 The U.S. Circuit Court of appeals ruled that physicians might send contraceptives by mail.
1944 H. L. Mencken Diary 22 Nov. (1989) 340 The Postoffice [sic] smellers are vigilant for violations of the federal act forbidding the use of the mails to promote them [sc. lotteries].
1992 Sun (Baltimore) 23 June b 11/3 PC makers that sell through the mail via toll-free numbers.
1994 Guardian 8 Jan. 6/8 The Royal Mail has turned its die-printing on its side to produce a horizontal ordinary first-class stamp.
4. Computing.
a. = electronic mail n. 1. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > network > [noun] > electronic messaging
electronic mail1959
mail1970
mail1972
teletex1978
email1979
voicemail1980
1970 Proc. IEEE 58 1004 (table) Electronic typer: Soft copy..Basic business and home unit for mail, computer time sharing, and transaction exchange.
b. = electronic mail n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > network > [noun] > electronic messaging
electronic mail1959
mail1970
mail1972
teletex1978
email1979
voicemail1980
1972 A. K. Bhushan Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 385. 3 The use of <sys ident> would allow a network user to send mail to other users who do not have NIC identification but whose <sys ident> is known.
1983 Proc. AFIPS Conf. 52 382/1 Similar communications systems will evolve for electronic mail. Employees will have IDs on their company's internal mail system as well as on at least one public system.
1986 D. Deutsch in T. Bartree Digital Communications v. 178 Some systems also inform their users about new mail during a session.
1992 PC World Apr. 64/1 The principle motivation is mail's potential role as the foundation for controlling the next generation of PC software—‘mail enabled’ applications.
1993 UNIX Rev. May 76/3 SLIP allows network services that use TCP/IP—mail, netnews, X Windows—to run over a serial line.
1993 Wired Dec. 42/3 What are the risks of running a large mailing list?.. The biggest problem is the barf mail—fielding ten new pieces of rejected mail every day.
1998 Industry Standard 11 May 43/2 Server agents..might be set to watch for a certain frequency of mail transmission, setting off an alert if an unusually high number of messages goes out or if there is a steady stream of mail over a period of time from one account.

Compounds

C1. (In sense 1.)
a. General attributive.
† mail band n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1515 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 69 A male wyth ij male bandys.
† mail girt n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > girth
wanty1297
wame-towc1310
womb ropea1325
girth1377
surcingle1390
warrok1392
garthc1425
cinglec1430
girt1563
wanty rope1569
girse1591
saddle banda1604
mail girt1607
saddle girt1613
saddle girth1635
mail-girth1673
girding1680
body girth1688
roller1688
wombtack1729
breast-girth1805
girthing1805
cinch1866
latigo1873
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 198 The females [sc. elephants] carry ouer their Calues vpon their snowts..binding them fast with their trunks..like as with ropes or male girts.
† mail-girth n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > girth
wanty1297
wame-towc1310
womb ropea1325
girth1377
surcingle1390
warrok1392
garthc1425
cinglec1430
girt1563
wanty rope1569
girse1591
saddle banda1604
mail girt1607
saddle girt1613
saddle girth1635
mail-girth1673
girding1680
body girth1688
roller1688
wombtack1729
breast-girth1805
girthing1805
cinch1866
latigo1873
1673 in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. vii. 384 For a male-girth and tabbs 1s. 6d.
† mail horse n. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by purpose used for > [noun] > pack-horse
summer?a1300
bottle-horsea1414
mail horse1440
sumpter horsec1450
sommier1481
packhorse?a1500
carriage horse1500
sumpter1526
sumpture1567
load-horse1568
loader1600
baggage-horse1640
led horse1662
portmanteau-gelding1694
portmanteau-horse1770
pack pony1850
bât-horse1863
pack1866
1345–9 Wardrobe Acct. Edward III in Archaeologia (1846) 31 86 (MED) & male horsorum.]
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 323 Male horse, gerulus.
1469 in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (1790) 97 A maile horse and a botell horse, whiche the seid maile-man shall keepe.
† mail-lock n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1673 in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. vii. 384 For a male-lock and a letter, 8d.
† mail panel n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1393 in L. T. Smith Exped. Prussia & Holy Land Earl Derby (1894) 152 (MED) Pro iij capistris et male panel.
† mail-saddle n. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > saddle > types of saddle
mail-saddle1360
trotter-saddle1381
panel1393
loadsaddle1397
packsaddle1398
limber-saddle1480
pillion1480
side-saddle1493
steel saddle1503
pilgate1511
mail pillowc1532
stock-saddle1537
pad1556
sunk1568
trunk-saddle1569
soda1586
mail pillion1586
running saddle1596
Scotch saddle1596
postilion saddle1621
pad-saddle1622
portmanteau-saddle1681
watering saddle1681
cart-saddle1692
demi-pique1695
crook-saddle1700
saddle pad1750
recado1825
aparejo1844
mountain saddle1849
somerset1851
pilch1863
cowboy saddle1880
sawbuck (pack)saddle1881
western saddle1883
cross-saddle1897
centre-fire1921
McClellan1940
poley1957
1360 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. lii iij ladesadelles..j cella quae vocatur malesadell.
1446 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 95 Item, j malesadill sine apparatu.
† mail-trunk n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > a journey > [noun] > luggage > travelling boxes
trussing coffera1387
lode-malea1400
gardeviance1459
trussing mail1485
trussing chest1540
trunk1609
portmanteau trunk1683
hair-trunk1693
mail-trunka1726
trunkie1728
trunk-mail1771
imperial1773
cedar chest1775
Noah's Ark1803
wardrobe trunk1815
dress case1819
yakdan1824
pitara1828
bullock-trunk1844
dress basket1857
Saratoga trunk1857
Saratoga1863
black jack1885
innovation trunk1912
a1726 J. Vanbrugh Journey to London (1728) ii. i. 7 My Lady herself,..laid on four Mail-Trunks, besides the great Deal-Box.
b. Objective.
† mail maker n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > production and development of arms > armourer > [noun] > one who makes armour
platemaker1297
mail maker1311
plateman1435
linen-armourer1603
1311 in W. H. Black Hist. & Antiq. Worshipful Company of Leathersellers (1871) 23 [John Monce,] Malmakere [ Cal. Let.-bks. Guildhall melmakere].
?1518 Cocke Lorelles Bote sig. B.vj Masones, male makers, and merbelers.
C2. General attributive (in sense 2).
a. In the names of vehicles employed to carry mail.
mail diligence n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > stagecoach or mail coach > specific type
long-coach1672
telegraph coach1796
mail-gig1813
mail diligence1837
1837 Act 7 William IV & 1 Victoria c. 33 §18 No Mail Coach, Mail Diligence, or Mail Cart.
mail-gig n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > stagecoach or mail coach > specific type
long-coach1672
telegraph coach1796
mail-gig1813
mail diligence1837
1813 W. Holland Diary in Paupers & Pig Killers (1984) 251 As I ordered him to return without fail with the Mail Gig I am much displeased that he durst disobey me.
1887 C. F. Holder Living Lights 119 John Stewart, who for many years drove a mail-gig between Dunkeld and Aberfeldy.
mail-hack n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > stagecoach or mail coach
posting carriage1556
wagon1615
post-coach1636
stagecoach1658
flying coach1669
stage1671
wagon-coach1675
stage-wagon1681
post-car1694
post-wagon1694
post calash1703
fly1708
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
diligence1742
flying machine1764
machine1769
mail coach1785
dilly1786
mail stage1792
high-flyer1799
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
tally-ho coach1831
mail packeta1837
flying carriage1849
stager1852
mail-hack1909
1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny x. 165 One afternoon Jimmy Valentine..climbed out of the mail-hack.
mail plane n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > aircraft
mail plane1911
1911 Pall Mall Mag. July 49/1 I shall never cross in a mailplane again.
1977 Belfast Tel. 27 Jan. 7/3 Two mail planes..also had to be cancelled.
† mail schooner n. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1822 Accts. relating to Establishment General Post Office 8 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 189) XVIII. 159 Hire of Seven Mail Schooners in the West Indies £.5,100.
mail steamer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > vessel
post-boat1582
post packet1634
post office packet1780
mailboat1786
mail steamer1843
mailer1857
mail ship1891
1843 W. Frazier Jrnl. 26 July (1930) 53 The Louisville & Cincinnati mail steamer was puffing along.
1869 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast (rev. ed.) 461 He..was going to the Pacific coast of South America, to take charge of a line of mail steamers.
1988 B. Cooper Alexander Kennedy Isbister ii. vi. 151 He might supply coal to the mail steamers.
mail-van n. U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > road vehicle
post-caroche1627
post-coach1636
post calash1703
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
mail-cart1767
Royal Mail?1780
mail coach1785
mail stage1792
mail carriage1810
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
mail wagon1821
post-cart1826
mail-van1909
mail truck1921
postbus1957
1909 Chambers's Jrnl. June 343/2 Mail-vans in large numbers..are now being driven by mechanical power.
1982 J. Mackay Guinness Bk. Stamps 31 The first horseless mailvan was a steam-driven vehicle.
mail wagon n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > road vehicle
post-caroche1627
post-coach1636
post calash1703
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
mail-cart1767
Royal Mail?1780
mail coach1785
mail stage1792
mail carriage1810
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
mail wagon1821
post-cart1826
mail-van1909
mail truck1921
postbus1957
1821 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 27 Oct. 3/1 There was but one person in the mail wagon.
1904 N.Y. Evening Post 17 May 3 A mail wagon that was being driven rapidly to catch a ferryboat.
b.
mail-boy n.
ΚΠ
1786 R. Hunter Jrnl. 16 June in Quebec to Carolina (1943) (modernized text) 278 I..insisted on the mail boy procuring me horses to carry me on.
1842 in J. S. Buckingham E. & W. States Amer. II. 118 [I] saw descending the hill..the mail-boy on his horse at full speed.
1988 Patches 1 Apr. 22/2 Michael J. Fox leaves college and starts work as a mail-boy with a massive corporation in New York.
† mail letter n. Obsolete
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun]
epistleeOE
pistleOE
writOE
letter?c1225
brief1330
writingc1384
missive letter1519
scroll1534
missive?1553
scrieve1581
favour1645
chitty1698
chit1757
mail letter1799
1799 Stat. U.S. (1856) I. iii. xliii. §15. 737 If any person..shall secrete, embezzle or destroy any such mail letter or packet.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. xv. 317 We have na had time to sort the mail letters yet.
mail matter n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > letter > [noun] > collectively
epistling1596
correspondency1699
correspondence1771
mail matter1839
1839 in Diplomatic Corr. Texas (Amer. Hist. Assoc.) (1908) 392 Unpaid U.S. postage on mail matter on hand in the Post offices of Texas.
1906 Churchman 10 Nov. 724 All mail matter for the secretary of the convention should be addressed to [etc.].
mail room n.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > room by type of use > [noun] > others
speech-housec1050
watching-chamber1533
music room1608
service room1669
amphitheatre1694
lararium1706
well-room1731
lumber room1740
water room1774
bird room1776
grubbery1791
bookery1798
study1808
service room1833
selamlik1838
serving room1838
social space1851
mail room1856
rumpus room1930
birthing room1936
home office1960
romper room1961
dungeon1969
1856 Ladies' Repository 16 541 Editor in chief; 10 assistants..; 6 mail-room hands.
1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Aug. 7/2 The mail-room occupies the place of what was formerly the second saloon.
1976 Washington Post 19 Apr. a23/5 He was in the Library's Crystal City mailroom, where he had volunteered to help out.
c. Objective.
(a)
mail-carrier n.
ΚΠ
1790 Deb. Congr. U.S. 22 Dec. (1834) II. 1821 Mail-carriers should be..exempted.
1901 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 289 The usefulness of fast steamships as mail-carriers.
1987 Down East Nov. 91/2 The R.F.D. mail carrier..had stopped at our mailbox to deliver several letters.
mail-handler n.
ΚΠ
1949 Amer. Speech 24 136/2 Mail handler, this type of employee was formerly called a ‘post office laborer’, but he now answers to this more dignified name.
1984 New Yorker 17 Dec. 43/2 Often, the heaviest thing you lift in the course of a whole day—even if you're a mail handler for the Postal Service—is your own body.
mail robber n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > robber > [noun]
riperOE
robberc1175
laron13..
meecher?a1450
latron1613
mail robber?1793
rampsman1859
heister1927
?1793 J. Caulfield Blackguardiana (title page) Dictionary of..Shop-lifters, Mail-robbers, Coiners, House-breakers, [etc.].
1820 Niles' Weekly Reg. 1 Apr. 81/1 The mail robbers..have made a free confession of their guilt.
1855 J. Holbrook Ten Years among Mail Bags xxix. 375 The mail robber was committing depredations from day to day.
1991 N. Bawden Woman of my Age (BNC) 73 I never saw the mail robber, though Tom played with his children—and caught nits from them, to Nonni's horror.
mail robbery n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > [noun]
reiflockOE
reiflOE
robberya1200
rapea1325
reaveryc1325
robbing1340
ravinc1384
stouthreif1493
ravenya1500
bribery1523
reft1552
pillardise1598
involationa1680
mail robbery1797
hustling1823
push1874
blag1885
rolling1895
strong-arming1948
1797 J. O'Keeffe Wicklow Mountains iv. v. 45 I myself brought you that letter from Dublin, and made the boy tell the sham story of the mail robbery.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It viii. 73 We crossed the sand hills near the scene of the Indian mail robbery and massacre of 1856, wherein the driver and conductor perished.
1998 Fresno (Calif.) Bee (Electronic ed.) 14 Oct. (heading) Mail robberies case delayed.
(b)
mail-carrying n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1855 J. Holbrook Ten Years among Mail Bags 196 We have room for but one more narrative of border life, and the perils of mail-carrying in the backwoods.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 1 June 8/3 The various lines of passenger and mail-carrying steamers.
C3.
mailbag n. a large bag in which mail is carried.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > mail-bag
letter baga1655
bag1702
postbag1706
mailbag1812
pouch1833
mail pouch1843
mail sack1869
1812 Theatr. Inquisitor 1 273 The majority of readers..ramble through books as post-boys ride through towns..and..can tell you as little of the contents as those who carry the mail-bags can of the letters.
1991 Writer's Digest Nov. 4/3 I expected a full mailbag of orders. Score? Zilch.
mail car n. (a) Irish English a jaunting car used for the conveyance of mail; (b) chiefly North American, a railway car in which mail is carried; (c) Australian and New Zealand a motor vehicle used for the conveyance of mail (and also sometimes of passengers).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > railway vehicle
mail coach1838
mail train1839
mail car1842
night mail1842
post-office car1851
mail1862
postal car1864
postal1891
1842 S. C. Hall & A. M. Hall Ireland II. 77 Mail-cars.
1889 Church Times 27 Dec. 1227 The regular train consists of two sleepers,..and enough mail-cars to contain the mail.
1915 J. Cox Diary 24 Apr. (MS, Alexander Turnbull Libr., Wellington, N.Z.) I walked to the post office..and came into Carterton by the mail car with five others.
1942 C. Aston in N.Z. New Writing 1 55 Martin heard the mailcar go past.
1945 C. Mann in W. Murdoch & H. Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 261 Sent by the mail-car up to Town.
1980 E. Neave & M. Neave Land of Munros 46 I was sometimes called upon to drive a mail car to Omarama and Benmore Station on mail days to take surplus passengers and small goods.
1992 N.Y. Times 28 June v. 35/1 The Colorado & Southern mail car was essentially a post office on wheels.
mail carriage n. (a) a carriage used for the conveyance of mail; (b) the transportation of mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > road vehicle
post-caroche1627
post-coach1636
post calash1703
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
mail-cart1767
Royal Mail?1780
mail coach1785
mail stage1792
mail carriage1810
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
mail wagon1821
post-cart1826
mail-van1909
mail truck1921
postbus1957
1810 T. Jefferson Let. 20 Sept. in Papers (2006) Retirement Ser. III. 103 The roads..are over a continued succession of river cliffs, impracticable for a mail carriage.
1859 All Year Round 18 June 190/2 The mail carriages..consisted of a sorting carriage and mail-bag van.
1860 J. G. Holland Miss Gilbert's Career x. 166 The Crampton line of public travel and mail carriage was only one of the many tributaries to the great trunk lines.
mail-cart n. (a) a vehicle in which mail is carried by road; (b) a light vehicle to carry children, made with shafts to be drawn or pushed by hand.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > road vehicle
post-caroche1627
post-coach1636
post calash1703
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
mail-cart1767
Royal Mail?1780
mail coach1785
mail stage1792
mail carriage1810
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
mail wagon1821
post-cart1826
mail-van1909
mail truck1921
postbus1957
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicle pushed or pulled by person > [noun] > perambulator for child
mail-cart1767
baby carriage1825
carriage1829
go-cart1853
perambulator1853
pushcart1853
bassinet1855
baby buggy1862
buggy1862
gypsy cab1864
baby coach1866
pushcar1867
pram1881
wagon1887
pushchair1893
kiddy car1918
stroller1920
pusher1953
1767 Ann. Reg. 1766 66 Yesterday morning..the North mail cart, going through Tottenham Washway, was under water.
1894 St. Paul's 11 Aug. p. ii (advt.) Safety perambulators... Coach-panel ‘Buggy’ mail cart.
1982 J. Mackay Guinness Bk. Stamps 28 Pairs of camels were..used to haul mail-carts.
mail catcher n. North American (a) a device fitted to a rail carriage to enable retrieval of mail pouches from the trackside into a moving train; (b) a carriage fitted with this device.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > device for picking up or depositing mail-bags
mail catcher1875
traductor1890
1875 Chicago Tribune 18 Sept. 5/3 The Post-Office Department has introduced the use of a ‘mail-catcher’.
1893 M. H. Cushing Story of our Post Office 114 There are funds..for the purchase and repair of mail bags and mail catchers.
1999 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 9 Jan. (PG Extra) m27 The highlight comes when the late night ‘mail catcher’ makes its run from Cumberland to Baltimore, hooking the mail at each stop without stopping.
mail chute n. U.S. a slide down which mail is sent to a main depository, esp. in an office or apartment block.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > conveyor > [noun] > chute > types of
pulleya1586
letter chute1868
sack-shoot1902
tremie1905
mail chute1961
1961 C. Olson Coll. Poems (1987) 551 For me to get in to the apartment there was a narrow squeak of a door more like..a mail chute than a door.
1994 Arizona Republic 6 Mar. 24 The U.S. mail chute in the office came out of the Empire State Building when it was remodeled years ago.
mail contract n. a contract for the conveyance of mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal obligation > contract > [noun]
covenantc1330
contractc1386
finec1390
agreement1425
obligement1499
convention1513
achate1607
mail contract1843
punctation1855
pay-or-play1949
1843 Laws & Regulations Post Office (U.S.) ii. i. 1 To this office are assigned the duties of..making out advertisements for mail contracts.
1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It vi. 54 The time specified in the mail contracts..was eighteen or nineteen days.
mail contractor n. a person who contracts with the government for the conveyance of the mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > employer > [noun] > contractor
undertaker1602
contractor1724
mail contractor1821
lumper1851
independent contractor1857
1821 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 29 Dec. 3/1 The mail stage..was upset,..and the Mail Contractor..severely hurt.
1889 P. Butler Personal Recoll. 149 Captain Frederick Emory, a United States Mail Contractor.
mail cover n. U.S. the monitoring of all mail sent to a specified address; also attributive.
ΚΠ
1965 N.Y. Times 24 Feb. 26 When a person is subjected to a mail cover, the Post Office records the name and address of anyone sending mail to him, as well as the postmarking and the class of mail.
1974 Daily Tel. 29 Jan. 17/4 The FBI began its investigation of Miss Paton as a result of a ‘mail cover’ on the New York headquarters of the party.
mail-day n. the day on which mail is dispatched or received.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > a day or twenty-four hours > [noun]
dayOE
journeyc1305
joura1500
dog day1669
nycthemeron1682
lunar day1686
political day1706
twenty-four1735
nycthemer1837
mail-day1844
Tag1914
1844 E. J. Knox Let. 15 Mar. in A. E. Blake Mem. Vanished Generation (1909) viii. 211 When the mail day does arrive the excitement caused by the postman's knock is tremendous.
1933 B. Willoughby Alaskans All 102 Everywhere in the land mail-day is the most longed-for, the most important day the Alaskan knows.
mail drop n. (a) U.S. [ < mail n.2 + drop n. 17d] , a place where mail may be left to be collected by another person; (b) the coordinated delivery of mail to a large number of addresses, esp. of advertising or promotional material to potential supporters, customers, etc.; a mailing.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > place where letters, etc., may be collected
mail drop1968
1968 N. Johnson Let. 29 June (1981) 221 You usually wrote me..in care of a cigar store mail drop in Burbank.
1976 A. Boot & M. Thomas Jamaica 79/2 There are transient maildrops for international Ethiopian efforts like the Mystic Masons.
1987 Church Times 24 July 1/2 Bad taste? According to Campaign reporter Mark Jones, Peter Kirvan's local church wants to use the Waite poster for a mail-drop in the area.
1993 D. Coyle Hardball iv. iv. 180 Big J.J...threatened to put his glove in a maildrop. ‘You can't do that’, a righteous Bill had yelled... ‘That's a federal offense!’
mail guard n. the guard of a mail coach.
ΚΠ
1790 J. Wolcot Advice to Future Laureat in Wks. (1812) II. 341 The Mail guard To load his blunderbuss and blow his horn.
1844 Act 7 & 8 Victoria c. 85 §11 It shall be also lawful for the Postmaster General to send any Mail Guard with Bags..by any Trains other than a Mail Train.
1982 J. Mackay Guinness Bk. Stamps 31 The coachmen and mail guards were popularly known as ‘the phantoms of the night’.
mail horn n. now historical a long horn used by the guard of a mail coach.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > horn > [noun] > post
post-horna1652
mail horn1850
yard of tin1903
1850 R. S. Surtees Soapey Sponge's Sporting Tour in New Monthly Mag. Oct. liv. 212 The shrill twang, twang, twang, of the now almost forgotten mail horn.
† mail-maker n. Obsolete an official in the General Letter-Office.
ΚΠ
1735–55 J. Chamberlayne Present State Great Brit. ii. iii List of Officers in General Letter-Office. [Two] Mail-makers.
mailman n. a person (historically spec. a man) who carries or delivers the mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > person
letter bearera1400
breveterc1440
post1507
letter carrier1552
post boy1588
ordinary1592
packet carrier1606
postie1611
woman-posta1616
postwoman1683
letterman1707
postman1758
packeteer1784
letter boy1794
carrier1798
delivery officer1839
post-girl1850
mailman1881
packeter1893
postlady1975
1469 in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (1790) 97 A maile horse..whiche the seid maile-man shall keepe.
1786 R. Hunter Jrnl. 17 June in Quebec to Carolina (1943) (modernized text) 279 I took another confounded stage horse..and set off at five with another mailman.
1881 R. C. Praed Policy & Passion I. i. 9 Tom Dungie, the mail-man,..had just removed his saddle with its load of brown leather post-bags.
1990 Sun (Brisbane) 11 Dec. 35 (caption) No mail again today. Garfield, have you been harassing the mailman again?
† mail-master n. U.S. Obsolete a postal officer in charge of the mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > official of the post > at stage on post road
postmaster1603
mail-master1855
mail-officer1867
1855 H. Clarke New Dict. Eng. Lang. Mail-master, officer having charge of the mail.
mail-officer n. = mail-master n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > official of the post > at stage on post road
postmaster1603
mail-master1855
mail-officer1867
1867 C. Dickens Let. 11 Dec. (1999) XI. 508 I cannot pay this letter, because I give it at the latest moment to the mail-officer, who is going on board the Cunard packet in charge of the mails, and who is staying in this house.
1882 E. A. Floyer Unexplored Baluchistan 138 The mail-officer passed us with the mails [in a boat].
mail packet n. (a) a boat in which mail is conveyed; (b) a carriage in which mail is conveyed.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > stagecoach or mail coach
posting carriage1556
wagon1615
post-coach1636
stagecoach1658
flying coach1669
stage1671
wagon-coach1675
stage-wagon1681
post-car1694
post-wagon1694
post calash1703
fly1708
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
diligence1742
flying machine1764
machine1769
mail coach1785
dilly1786
mail stage1792
high-flyer1799
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
tally-ho coach1831
mail packeta1837
flying carriage1849
stager1852
mail-hack1909
a1837 E. C. Knight Jrnl. in C. Knight Autobiogr. (1861) I. ix. 158 On the 31st of October we went on board the King George mail-packet.
1844 R. Hill State Penny Postage 16 The net expense of the Mail packets to these Islands..amounted in 1840–41 to about 7000l.
1943 Beaver (Winnipeg) Mar. 30/1 Mail packets were operated on a time-table, just as are mail flights..today. ‘Packeteers’ were never armed.
1988 B. Cooper Alexander Kennedy Isbister i. i. 19 The drivers of the mail packet were ambushed between Fort Good Hope and Peel River Post.
mail phaeton n. now historical a high two-seated phaeton drawn by a pair of horses.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > carriage for conveying persons > [noun] > types of carriage > light carriage > four-wheeled
carryall1714
phaeton1740
pony phaeton1790
mail phaeton1852
1852 Househ. Words 20 Mar. 9/2 Great people are these stockbrokers for..driving mail-phaetons, or wide-awake looking dog-carts.
1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road iv. 24 Baron Edouard de Rothschild,..driving a mail phaeton with a diminutive ‘tiger’ in white breeches and top boots perched on the rumble seat.
† mail pillion n. Obsolete a pad or cushion on the hinder part of a saddle used for resting a mail or piece of luggage in transport.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > saddle > types of saddle
mail-saddle1360
trotter-saddle1381
panel1393
loadsaddle1397
packsaddle1398
limber-saddle1480
pillion1480
side-saddle1493
steel saddle1503
pilgate1511
mail pillowc1532
stock-saddle1537
pad1556
sunk1568
trunk-saddle1569
soda1586
mail pillion1586
running saddle1596
Scotch saddle1596
postilion saddle1621
pad-saddle1622
portmanteau-saddle1681
watering saddle1681
cart-saddle1692
demi-pique1695
crook-saddle1700
saddle pad1750
recado1825
aparejo1844
mountain saddle1849
somerset1851
pilch1863
cowboy saddle1880
sawbuck (pack)saddle1881
western saddle1883
cross-saddle1897
centre-fire1921
McClellan1940
poley1957
1586–7 in G. R. Batho Househ. Papers H. Percy (1962) 71 For a male pyllion and gyrthes, ij s. vj d.
1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. x. 216 A galled backe commeth..with the..Pack-Saddle or Male-pillion.
1784 T. Jefferson Memorandum Bks. 1 July (1997) I. 554 P[ai]d. for mailpelon 6/.
1840 Niles' Nat. Reg. 8 Aug. 366/1 Each dragoon to furnish himself with..a good saddle, bridle, male pillion, and valise.
† mail pillow n. Obsolete = mail pillion n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > saddle > types of saddle
mail-saddle1360
trotter-saddle1381
panel1393
loadsaddle1397
packsaddle1398
limber-saddle1480
pillion1480
side-saddle1493
steel saddle1503
pilgate1511
mail pillowc1532
stock-saddle1537
pad1556
sunk1568
trunk-saddle1569
soda1586
mail pillion1586
running saddle1596
Scotch saddle1596
postilion saddle1621
pad-saddle1622
portmanteau-saddle1681
watering saddle1681
cart-saddle1692
demi-pique1695
crook-saddle1700
saddle pad1750
recado1825
aparejo1844
mountain saddle1849
somerset1851
pilch1863
cowboy saddle1880
sawbuck (pack)saddle1881
western saddle1883
cross-saddle1897
centre-fire1921
McClellan1940
poley1957
c1532 in J. Raine Durham Househ. Bk. (1844) 153 Et in 2 mayle pyllows et nayrvell emptis..13d.
c1532 in J. Raine Durham Househ. Bk. (1844) 340 Mayle pyllow. Saddles for males, or portmanteaus.
1568 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 219 In his owen stable..One sumtar sadle, one trouncke sadle, a male pillo, and ij. male girthes.
1574 in E. Roberts & K. Parker Southampton Probate Inventories, 1447–1575 (1992) II. 411 ij brydels wth a maylpylow.
mail pouch n. U.S. a locked leather mailbag.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > mail-bag
letter baga1655
bag1702
postbag1706
mailbag1812
pouch1833
mail pouch1843
mail sack1869
1843 Laws & Regulations Post Office (U.S.) ii. lxvii. 57 Communications relating to portmanteaus, mail pouches and mail bags.
1903 E. Johnson Amer. Railway Transportation 173 The mileage traveled by the cars containing the mail-pouches.
1990 Case IH Farm Forum Spring 28/3 Harley Warrick..is the one and only Mail Pouch painter still brushing the memorable slogan.
mail-rack n. U.S. a letter-rack.
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society > communication > correspondence > letter-writing > [noun] > letter-case, -rack, or -book
letter case1653
letter book1667
letter rack1821
mail-rack1896
1896 Cosmopolitan Feb. 406 Near one of the doors..is..the mail-rack.
mail rider n. a person who transports mail on horseback.
ΚΠ
1801 in C. Cist Cincinnati in 1841 (1841) 177 The mail-rider..from the upper route.
1993 Oxf. Illustr. Encycl. (new ed.) IV. 77/2 [Cochise] gave his word in 1860 that he would not molest US mail riders passing through his Arizona territory.
mail road n. now chiefly historical = mail route n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > postal routes
post line1791
route1792
mail road1818
rural route1852
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > for wheeled vehicles > used by coaches > mail- or post-road
post road1657
mail road1818
1818 in H. B. Fearon Sketches Amer. 430 About three miles from the great mail road to Cincinnati.
1837 R. Hill Post Office Reform 29 The cost of transit along the mail-roads..being so trifling.
1898 B. H. Young Hist. Jessamine County, Kentucky 82 The establishment of a mail road from Lexington.
mail route n. a road or route by which mail is regularly conveyed.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > used by post or mail
post route1768
mail route1821
mail track1924
1821 Deb. Congr. U.S. 31 Dec. (1855) I. 47 The expediency of establishing a mail route from Baton Rouge..to Opelousas courthouse, Louisiana.
1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 14 July 11/3 Steamship Dora, which for years has handled the stormy westward mail route..arrived in port today.
1989 C. R. Wilson & W. Ferris Encycl. Southern Culture 46/1 By 1950..there was one rural mail route for every 1,278 rural inhabitants in the five midwestern states.
mail run n. Australian and New Zealand the regular transportation of mail along a particular route.
ΚΠ
1946 M. Trist in W. Murdoch & H. Drake-Brockman Austral. Short Stories (1951) 418 A mail run used to be a mail run in those days.
1961 B. Crump Hang on a Minute Mate 88 [He was] doing the Whenuaroa mail-run in a flash new truck.
1992 D. Herrmann A. M. Lindbergh ii. 25 Lindbergh was hired..as the chief pilot on the mail run to Chicago.
mail-runner n. (in South Asia) a person who carries mail.
ΚΠ
1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 120 Up the hill to Simoorie..The bags on his shoulder, the mail-runner trudges.
1971 K. Kent in C. Bonington Annapurna South Face App. E. 279 Throughout the expedition our six mailrunners covered a total distance of 3,500 miles.
mail sack n. U.S. a canvas bag used for the conveyance of mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > mail-bag
letter baga1655
bag1702
postbag1706
mailbag1812
pouch1833
mail pouch1843
mail sack1869
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xii. 106 To lie at full length on the mail sacks, in the grateful breeze.
1984 A. Cornelisen Any Four Women iv. 39 The mailmen..deposited their mail sack.
† mail-setting adj. Obsolete that robs the mail.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > robbery > [adjective] > specific type or manner of robbery
church-robbing1549
footpadding1628
padding1628
mail-settingc1688
hold-up1881
hijacking1923
smash-and-grab1927
skyjacked1961
c1688 New Letany viii, in Coll. Poems against Popery (1689) 8/1 A Turncoat, Mail-setting, King-killing Rascal.
mail ship n. a ship used to carry mail; (South African) = mailboat n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > vessel
post-boat1582
post packet1634
post office packet1780
mailboat1786
mail steamer1843
mailer1857
mail ship1891
1891 Act 54 & 55 Vict. c. 31 §2 The master of a British mail ship..when carrying mails to or from any port [etc.].
1891 Act 54 & 55 Vict. c. 31 §10 This Act may be cited as the Mail Ships Act, 1891.
1917 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 11 294 A case involving the admissibility of a legal civil proceeding against a Belgian mail ship.
1953 Cape Times 17 Apr. 9 The group of volkspelers..will sail on an oversea tour in to-day's mailship.
1976 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 16 May 4 As the mailships are dying out, so are the people who sailed in them to summer in South Africa.
1999 Ottawa Sun (Nexis) 18 Feb. 3 You can only get there by boat. One. From England. The RMS St. Helena. A mail ship. Room for 128 passengers.
mail slot n. North American a slot in a front door through which post is delivered by the post office.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > letter-slit on door or wall
letterbox1820
letter-slit1833
letter plate1849
mail slot1892
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > window or door > parts of door > [noun] > door fittings
furniture1881
mail slot1892
1892 Olean (N.Y.) Weekly Democrat 20 Dec. 13/1 Two horizontals slits in the door plate, above and below the mail slot.
1951 J. Kerouac On the Road: Orig. Scroll (2007) 284 He peeked down through her mail-slot which opened up on the bed.
1955 E. A. Powell Adventure Road iii. 20 The postman dropped into the mail slot of my door a letter bearing the imprint of the Badminton Magazine.
1986 R. B. Parker Taming Sea-horse (1987) xi. 67 There were several days' worth of letters piled under the mail slot.
mail stage n. U.S. historical a stagecoach used primarily for the conveyance of mail, a mail coach.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > road vehicle
post-caroche1627
post-coach1636
post calash1703
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
mail-cart1767
Royal Mail?1780
mail coach1785
mail stage1792
mail carriage1810
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
mail wagon1821
post-cart1826
mail-van1909
mail truck1921
postbus1957
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > public service vehicle > [noun] > stagecoach or mail coach
posting carriage1556
wagon1615
post-coach1636
stagecoach1658
flying coach1669
stage1671
wagon-coach1675
stage-wagon1681
post-car1694
post-wagon1694
post calash1703
fly1708
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
diligence1742
flying machine1764
machine1769
mail coach1785
dilly1786
mail stage1792
high-flyer1799
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
tally-ho coach1831
mail packeta1837
flying carriage1849
stager1852
mail-hack1909
1792 Deb. Congr. U.S. 2 Feb. (1849) 361 The mail stage passes Merrimack river, about four miles above the old ferry.
1834 Southern Literary Messenger 1 181 I took my seat in the mail stage, and travelled three hundred miles without once going to bed.
1909 ‘O. Henry’ Options (1916) 137 [He] caught the mail-stage back to Chico.
mail-time n. (a) the time at which mail is collected or delivered; (b) the time mail takes to pass between two places.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > [noun] > time taken by mail
mail-time1841
1841 W. M. Thackeray Fatal Boots xi In the evening, after mail-time, I [sc. a letter-carrier] went back to my mamma and sister.
1912 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 5/2 The mail-time between that town [sc. Villa Rica] and London will be reduced from thirty days to about eighteen.
mail track n. Australian (now rare) the route by which mail is delivered.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > [noun] > used by post or mail
post route1768
mail route1821
mail track1924
1924 H. E. Reimann Nor'-West o'West 96 He could..follow the creek until he came to the Nanunabberra River mail track.
1940 G. Morphett Simple Story Rural Devel. 2 We lived four miles away from the mail track.
mail train n. a fast train which carries mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > train > train carrying mail
mail train1839
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > railway vehicle
mail coach1838
mail train1839
mail car1842
night mail1842
post-office car1851
mail1862
postal car1864
postal1891
1839 C. Dickens in Bentley's Misc. 5 219 I was returning from Manchester to London by the Mail Train.
1989 Weekly News (Glasgow) 27 May 5/5 Mail trains have..been a target for French villains.
mail truck n. a motor vehicle used for the conveyance of mail.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > person or vehicle that carries letters or mail > [noun] > vehicle or vessel > road vehicle
post-caroche1627
post-coach1636
post calash1703
post-carriage1720
post-stage1738
mail-cart1767
Royal Mail?1780
mail coach1785
mail stage1792
mail carriage1810
post-equipage1813
post vehicle1815
mail wagon1821
post-cart1826
mail-van1909
mail truck1921
postbus1957
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor lorry, truck, or van > [noun] > truck or lorry > mail truck
mail truck1921
1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 9 Apr. 17/7 Three bandits..held up a United States mail truck.
1986 Truck July 52/1 Grumman won a..contract to supply all the US Postal Service's mail trucks.
† mail-wry n. Obsolete rare a turn of fortune, lot, fate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > alternation > change of fortune > [noun]
foldingc1440
mail-wryc1475
varietya1533
volubility1609
c1475 Wisdom (Folger) (1969) 667 (MED) Ther pouert ys þe malewrye, Thow ryght be, he xall neuer renewe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

mailn.3

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/
Forms: Middle English mailye, Middle English maylle, Middle English meile, Middle English–1500s mayll, Middle English–1600s maile, Middle English–1600s maill, Middle English–1600s mayle, Middle English–1600s (1800s historical) maille, Middle English–1700s mayl, Middle English– mail, 1500s mal, 1500s–1600s male; also Scottish pre-1700 mailȝe, pre-1700 mailȝee, pre-1700 mailȝie, pre-1700 maillȝe, pre-1700 maillie, pre-1700 maily, pre-1700 mailye, pre-1700 mailyie, pre-1700 mailzie, pre-1700 maleȝe, pre-1700 malȝe, pre-1700 malȝie, pre-1700 malye, pre-1700 malyie, pre-1700 mealȝe, pre-1700 mealȝie, pre-1700 melȝe. Plural Middle English -ez, Middle English -is, Middle English -us, Middle English -ys, Middle English–1800s -es, Middle English– -s.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French maille.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman maille, maile, maele link of mail, marking (on birds, compare sense 4), Old French maille, maile in same senses, also fabric composed of links of mail, meshwork fabric (late 11th cent., compare Old Occitan malla (c1060)), probably < classical Latin macula macula n. Compare post-classical Latin maela , maella link of mail (13th cent. in British sources). In sense 3 after Old French maille in sense ‘corneal opacity, leucoma’ (late 11th cent.; compare macula n. 1a).For a suggested alternative etymology of the Old French word < maillier to hammer (see malleate v.), see F. Buttin Du costume militaire au Moyen Âge et pendant la Renaissance (1971) 21–49.
†1.
a. Any of the metal rings (or plates) of which mail-armour is composed; also figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [noun] > mail-armour > ring or plate of
ringOE
mailc1330
rustre1818
c1330 (?a1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) p. 594 (MED) Of mailes was nouȝt his hauberk; It was al of anoþer werk.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 624 (MED) Of ys auantaile, wyþ þat stroke a carf wel many a maylle.
c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) 228 An hawberk bryȝt, Þat rychely was a-dyȝt Wyth mayles þykke and smale.
c1475 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Taylor) in J. Robson Three Early Eng. Metrical Romances (1842) 19 Syxti maylis and moe The squrd squappes in toe.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) v. ii. 91 As golden mailȝeis hir scalis glitterand brycht.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Ephes. vi. f. xiiiiv For the breste plate, put on innocencie and righteousnes, to kepe the inward partes of your mynd safe and sure with the mayles of vertue and godlines.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 13 b/2 To drawe out any..Mayles which mighte remayne stitckinge [sic] in the Wounde.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Annelet, a mayle, or a ring of mayle.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Mail, a little Iron-ring for Armour.
1846 F. W. Fairholt Costume in Eng. 150 The mailles or rings of the hauberk appear,..sewn down..on a sort of gambeson.
b. In plural. The scales of a fish. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > scales or parts of
mails1484
fish-scalea1661
argentine1839
isopedine1907
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope v. 303 And at the bothe his elbowes he [sc. the monstre] hadde wynges ryght brode and grete of fysshes mayles wherwith he swymmed.
c. Proverb. [After Middle French maille a maille fait on le haubergon (15th cent.).] many mails make a haubergeon. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1597 J. Skene De Verborum Significatione at Hawbert The common proverb, manie mailzies makis an haubergion, monie littles makis an meikle.
2.
a. Armour composed of interlaced rings or chain-work or of overlapping plates fastened upon a groundwork. coat of mail: see coat n. 5.Some modern scholars restrict the definition to a defence of interlinked rings.chain-, plate-, ring-mail, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [noun] > mail-armour
mailc1330
mailurec1450
couplet-harness1609
chain-armoura1797
ring armoura1797
ring-mail1804
chain-mail1822
iron cloth1840
mail armour1845
c1330 King of Tars (Auch.) 141 in Englische Studien (1889) 11 36 (MED) Þai schul ben alle redi diȝt Wiþ helme & hauberk of meile.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 876 (MED) Olyuer..for-hewþ hem plate & maille.
c1395 G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale 1202 Thogh thyn housbond armed be in maille.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) v. 1559 Achilles, thorugh the maille And thorugh the body, gan hym for to ryve.
c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) 1176 Hys fomen wer well boun To perce hys acketoun, Gypell, mal and plate.
1465 M. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 300 A standerd of mayle.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1960) xii. ii. 95 Abowt his schuldris assais his hawbryk fyne, Of burnist maill.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 11107 Sho was bare of hir breast to þe bright mayll.
1552 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 130 A jack of plett, steilbonet, splent slevis, of mailyie or plait.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. 21 Their armour..certaine shirts of male verie long and streight.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 368 Mangl'd with gastly wounds through Plate and Maile . View more context for this quotation
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence ii. x Yclad in steel, and bright with burnish'd mail.
1789 R. Hole Arthur v No temper'd mail resists Fiacha's might.
1810 T. Campbell O'Connor's Child vii, in Gertrude of Wyoming (ed. 2) 86 Every bosom shook Beneath it's iron mail.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Leila v. i. 231 The king..was..armed cap-à-pie in mail.
1877 W. Morris Sigurd 4 Through the glimmering thicket the linked mail rang out.
1904 J. Parkinson Lays Love & War 47 What ho! my spear, My mail, and helm, and gleaming tahali.
1940 T. H. White Ill-made Knight vii. 45 The sentries made smart about-turns, their mail ringing on the stone floor.
1984 G. McCaughrean Canterbury Tales (1988) 13 Knights caparisoned in mail, heraldic surcoats, and plumes fit for birds-of-paradise.
†b. A piece of armour composed of mail. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [noun] > mail-armour > piece of mail-armour
mail1607
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 200 The trunk of the elephant was couered with a maile for defence.
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iii. iii. 146 To hang, Quite out of fashion like a rusty male . View more context for this quotation
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 25 They presently arme al their bodies, and..their very shinbones, and hinder parts, with males of Iron.
†c. figurative. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1678 A. Marvell Poem upon Death Lord Protector in Misc. Poems (1681) 144 He first put Armes into Religions hand, And tim'rous Conscience unto Courage man'd: The Souldier taught that inward Mail to wear.
1813 J. N. Brewer Beauties Eng. & Wales II. 77 The antiquaries who have entered the lists, have come cased up in the mail of prejudice.
1866 B. Taylor Autumnal Vespers in Poems 38 In stiff December's mail.
d. The protective shell or scales of certain animals.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > hard or protective covering
armoura1398
crust1615
armature1653
mail1713
shell1774
buckler1828
1713 E. Young Poem on Last Day i. 3 Leviathans but heave their cumbrous Mail.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Two Voices in Poems (new ed.) II. 117 To-day I saw the dragon-fly... From head to tail Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
1849 M. Arnold Forsaken Merman Where the sea-snakes coil and twine, Dry their mail and bask in the brine.
1885 R. L. Stevenson & F. Stevenson Dynamiter 106 The mail of a boiled lobster.
1924 R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin ii. 27 The flying Fishes in their silver mail.
†3. Originally: a spot in the eye; a corneal opacity. Later (English regional): a defect in vision (of unknown type). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > [noun] > film or web
filmOE
rima1382
weba1398
mailc1440
pin and weba1450
nebula1661
weft1661
haze1820
c1440 Liber de Diversis Med. 11 (margin) (MED) An oþer for þe maile in þe eghen.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxviii. viii. 312 Which eyesalve they say, serveth also for the mailles or spots [L. argema]..in the eyes.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II Mail, a defect in vision. Devon.
4.
a. The breast feathers of a bird, esp. (in Falconry) those of a hawk when the feathers are fully grown.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > feather > [noun] > on breast or stomach
maila1475
mail-feather1773
plastron1890
waistcoat1898
the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > family Accipitridae (hawks, etc.) > [noun] > hawk > parts of > feathers
maila1475
barb1486
brails1486
crinet1486
crinel1704
mail-feather1773
crine1855
a1475 Bk. Hawking (Harl. 2340) in Studia Neophilol. (1944) 16 9 Þe hauke hath white canwas oþer rede mayle.
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. avij Hawkes haue White maill, Canuas maill or Rede maill. And som call Rede maill Iren mayll. White maill is soone knawe. Canuas maill is betwene white maill and Iron maill. And Iron maill is varri Rede.
1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. Avijv A Goshawke nor a tercell in thare sore aage haue nott thair mayles named bot it is calde their plumage, and after the cote it is calde theyr Maill.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 241/2 Mayle of a hauke, greuelure.
1575 G. Turberville Bk. Faulconrie 34 They are ordinarily of foure mayles, eyther blancke, russet, browne, or turtle maylde.
1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husb. (1623) 135 His [sc. a dunghill cock's] eyes round and great, the colour answering the colour of his plume or male.
1655 I. Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 2) v. 145 The wings made of the blackish mail of the Drake.
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. App. 398 The Mail of a Hawk is the Breast or Plumage of the Breast in reference to its colour: So they say a Hawk changes the mail, or is white-maild, &c.
1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation ii. 182/1 The little Dun-flye hath his Body made of Dun-Wooll, and his Wings of the Mayle of a Partridge.
1852 R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus viii. 76 Full breast, covered with regular mail. Note. The ‘mails’ are the breast feathers.
1967 M. Woodford Man. Falconry (ed. 2) 170 Mail, the breast feathers of a hawk.
†b. A speckle on the plumage of a bird. Cf. mailed adj. 3a. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > [noun] > small spot or speckle
puncta1398
pointa1400
masclec1400
specklec1440
pecklec1450
sprinkle1481
spreckle1513
frecklea1549
spruttle1553
dot1596
punctum1653
pip1676
spark1686
punctal1694
mail1727
punctule1785
puncta1858
freck1866
guttula1887
1727 Phillips's New World of Words (ed. 6) Mail, a Speck on the Feathers of Birds.
5.
†a. A hole for the passage of a lace, clasp, or other fastening of a garment; an eyelet or ‘eye’. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > fastenings > other fastenings > hole for
mail?a1505
a1505 R. Henryson Garmont Gud Ladeis 15 in Poems (1981) 162 Hir kirtill suld be of clene constance, Lasit with lesum lufe, The mailȝeis of continwance, For nevir to remvfe.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 241/2 Mayle that receyveth the claspe of a gowne into it, porte.
1572 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 228 My Sleifis wer of to borrow and len glaidlie; My Lais and Mailȝies of trew permanence.
1588 Thomas's Dict. (1606) Orbiculus, the male or rundle thorough which the latchet of the shoe passeth.
1607 W. N. Barley-breake sig. B4v And day by day this lace a mayle doth bate.
1625 Brechin Test. IV. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue f. 183 v Auchtein hankis of kleispis, keiparis & maillȝeis.
1647 Edinb. Test. LXIII. f. 56, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) Mailze.
b. Weaving. A metal eyelet or ring in a loom through which the warp thread passes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [noun] > weaving > loom > other parts
studdlelOE
staff1338
trendle14..
trindle1483
cylinder?a1560
harness1572
mail1731
mounture1731
leaf1807
march1807
dropbox1823
neck-twine1827
mounting1835
shaft1839
Jack1848
selvage-protector1863
serpent1878
take-up motiona1884
swell1894
1731 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 37 106 Every Thread of the Warp goes through a small Brass Ring called a Male.
1831 G. R. Porter Treat. Silk Manuf. 216 A modern improvement substitutes for the loops small metallic eyes, through which the warp threads are passed,..these eyes are called mails.
1894 A. S. Robertson Provost o' Glendookie 16 Sandie returned..to work out his destiny amongst harness mails and flying shuttles.
1927 T. Woodhouse Artificial Silk: Manuf. & Uses 118 The threads are drawn through the mails of the healds (often wire ones) and then passed through the dents of a weaving reed.
†6. Rope-making. A section of interlinked pieces of metal used for rubbing loose hemp off cordage. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1750 T. R. Blanckley Naval Expositor Mails, are made of Iron, and interwoven, not unlike a Chain; they are for rubbing off the loose Hemp which remains on Lines or white Cordage after it is made.
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 55 Mail, to rub off the loose hemp that remains on white cordage, is a kind of steel chain-work, flat, and fastened upon leather, about nine-inches long and seven-inches broad.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Mail,..a number of rings interwoven net-wise, and used for rubbing off the loose hemp from white cordage after it is made.

Compounds

C1.
a. General attributive.
mail armour n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [noun] > mail-armour
mailc1330
mailurec1450
couplet-harness1609
chain-armoura1797
ring armoura1797
ring-mail1804
chain-mail1822
iron cloth1840
mail armour1845
1845 Biblical Repertory Apr. 353 Though pure English, it shows us the ancient Greek, at every turn, like a fine figure through mail-armour.
1981 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts Nov. 773/2 Mail armour (as well as scale) was used by the Romans both for the infantry and cavalry.
mail-coat n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > body armour > [noun] > coat of mail or corselet
ring netOE
burnec1050
briniec1175
hauberk1297
coatc1300
bryn1330
habergeon1377
jackc1380
doublet of defence (or fence)1418
petticoatc1425
gesteron1469
byrnie1488
coat of fence1490
corset1490
corse1507
sark of mail1515
plate-coat1521
shirt of mail1522
mail-coat1535
corslet1563
costlet1578
pewter coat1584
cataphract1591
pyne doublet1600
sponge1600
coat-armour1603
brace1609
coat of arms1613
frock of mail1671
mail-shirt1816
mail-sark1838
1535–6 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1905) VI. 277 Gray fusteane..to cover the said mailȝe coit.
1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xi. 55 He..would have the Mail-coats to be made link after link.
1798 J. C. Cross Raft v. 27 Arrah! Fanny! my little female with a mail coat on.
1875 W. Morris tr. Virgil Æneids vii. 639 Mail-coat threesome laid Of golden link.
1997 Antiquity 71 776/1 In addition there survive parts of a dozen or so mail coats, and 64 bossed wooden shields.
† mail-feather n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > feather > [noun] > on breast or stomach
maila1475
mail-feather1773
plastron1890
waistcoat1898
the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > family Accipitridae (hawks, etc.) > [noun] > hawk > parts of > feathers
maila1475
barb1486
brails1486
crinet1486
crinel1704
mail-feather1773
crine1855
1773 J. Campbell Treat. Mod. Faulconry 262 Male-feathers, those on the breast.
† mail-plate n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > body armour > [noun]
body armour1709
mail-quilt?1770
mail-plate1776
1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad iii. 128 Vain were the mail-plates of Granada's bands.
† mail-quilt n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > body armour > [noun]
body armour1709
mail-quilt?1770
mail-plate1776
?1770 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens First Bk. Lusiad 47 There clasping greaves, and plated mail-quilts strong.
† mail-sark n. Obsolete rare
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > body armour > [noun] > coat of mail or corselet
ring netOE
burnec1050
briniec1175
hauberk1297
coatc1300
bryn1330
habergeon1377
jackc1380
doublet of defence (or fence)1418
petticoatc1425
gesteron1469
byrnie1488
coat of fence1490
corset1490
corse1507
sark of mail1515
plate-coat1521
shirt of mail1522
mail-coat1535
corslet1563
costlet1578
pewter coat1584
cataphract1591
pyne doublet1600
sponge1600
coat-armour1603
brace1609
coat of arms1613
frock of mail1671
mail-shirt1816
mail-sark1838
1838 H. W. Longfellow Beowulf's Exped. to Heort 76 The Weather people..their mail-sarks shook.
mail-shirt n.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > body armour > [noun] > coat of mail or corselet
ring netOE
burnec1050
briniec1175
hauberk1297
coatc1300
bryn1330
habergeon1377
jackc1380
doublet of defence (or fence)1418
petticoatc1425
gesteron1469
byrnie1488
coat of fence1490
corset1490
corse1507
sark of mail1515
plate-coat1521
shirt of mail1522
mail-coat1535
corslet1563
costlet1578
pewter coat1584
cataphract1591
pyne doublet1600
sponge1600
coat-armour1603
brace1609
coat of arms1613
frock of mail1671
mail-shirt1816
mail-sark1838
1816 W. Scott Antiquary III. xvi. 354 Two essays, one on the mail-shirt of the Great Earl.
1987 H. Turtledove Misplaced Legion ix. 201 The same little sneakthief..darted up to plunge his dagger through the Namdalener's mail shirt and into his back.
mail-work n.
ΚΠ
1869 C. Boutell tr. J. P. Lacombe Arms & Armour ii. 18 The cuirass..was formed..of interwoven mail-work.
b. Instrumental.
mail-clad adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [adjective] > clad in or protected by armour > clad in mail
maileda1425
immailed1616
mail-clad1777
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [adjective] > armour-plated
armour-clad1768
mail-clad1777
iron-cased1855
ironclad1855
iron-plated1855
iron-sided1855
armoured1859
iron-clothed1859
mailed1860
armour-plated1862
cuirassed1864
belted1865
Harveyed1894
up-armoured1978
1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Persians in tr. Æschylus Tragedies 515 Thy mail-clad horse.
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel i. v. 11 Ten squires, ten yeomen, mail-clad men.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands i. ii. 24 Should an attack be made with mail-clad ships.
1902 J. London League of Old Men in Children of Forest 262 His steel-shod, mail-clad race.
mail-covered adj.
ΚΠ
1803 Ld. Byron On Leaving Newstead Abbey ii The mail-cover'd Barons.
mail-sheathed adj.
ΚΠ
1839 Southern Literary Messenger Sept. 632 The mail-sheathed hosts and tossing plumes of chivalry..rush in upon the arena before us.
C2.
mail-cheeked adj. designating fishes of the order Scorpaeniformes (which includes the scorpionfishes, gurnards, and sculpins), which are distinguished by a suborbital bony ridge extending across the cheek to the pre-operculum.
ΚΠ
1888 Amer. Naturalist 22 356 A recent study of the mail-cheeked fishes has led to some interesting and unexpected results.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 545/2 The ‘Mail-cheeked’ Acanthopterygians include a great variety of forms, mostly living in the sea.
1961 E. S. Herald Living Fishes of World 248/2 (heading) Scorpaenoid or mailcheeked fishes.
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes xv. 251/2 Most [scorpaeniforms] have spines projecting from different bones on the head, including a posteriorly directed spine derived from a bone below the eye, giving them the name ‘mail-cheeked fishes’.
mail net n. now historical a form of woven net fabric.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > woven
webOE
webOE
wefta1398
stuff1462
tissue1565
weave1581
contexture1603
textile1626
texturea1656
woof1674
webbing1739
fabric1753
mail net1875
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1375/2 Mail-net, a form of loom-made net, which is a combination of common gauze and whip-net in the same fabric.
mail-shell n. a chiton or coat-of-mail shell (cf. chiton n. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > amphineura or chitons
chiton1815
sea-caterpillara1843
sea-woodlouse1863
mail-shell1867
sea-boat1884
sea-bug1884
Amphineura1889
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 463 Mail-shell, a name for the chiton.
1945 E. Step & A. L. Wells Shell Life (new ed.) x. 180 The Mail-shells (Chiton) introduce us to the class Gasteropoda, to which all the Univalves belong.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† mailn.4

Forms: late Middle English mayle, late Middle English maylle, 1700s–1800s mail, 1800s maille; Scottish pre-1700 mailȝe, pre-1700 maill, pre-1700 mailyie, pre-1700 malȝe, pre-1700 melȝie.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French maille.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman maille, maile, maaille, mail, maill and Middle French maille, maaille, meaille (early 12th cent. in Old French) < post-classical Latin medalia half a denarius (9th-cent. gloss), dissimilated < *medialia , neuter plural of medialis medial adj., taken as feminine singular. Compare post-classical Latin maillia (1243 in a British source), Spanish medalla (1095), meaja (13th cent.), Portuguese mealias (plural, 1009), meaia (1157), meala (1162), Italian medaglia (13th cent.: see medal n.); also ( < Old French) Middle Dutch maelge, mailge, mālie, Middle Low German mālge.
Obsolete.
1. A small coin, normally a half denomination; (spec. in 14th-cent. England) a silver halfpenny. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > halfpenny
halfpennyc1330
ob.1389
galley-halfpenny1409
obolusc1450
make?1536
mail1570
meg?1738
mag?1775
tumbling tom1826
magpie1838
c1290 Britton (1865) I. i. xxxi. §2. 186 Quant a ii. s. vi. d. dunc soit le poys liiii. s. iiii. d. mayle ferling.
1379 Rolls of Parl. III. 64/2 De faire ordeiner Mayles & Ferthinges, pur paier pur les petites mesures.
1415 Act 3 Hen. V Et ces quest trove bon argent pr estre illoeques ferrez & coynez en mayls Engleys.]
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 2673 (MED) What..may þe auayle To forsakyn þe goddys wych leuyn ay, And of her godhed makyn a mayle?
a1450 (?c1421) J. Lydgate Siege Thebes (Arun.) (1911) 4076 (MED) For nouther force nor manhode may availle In swiche meschief the valewe of a maylle.
1469 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 97/1 That thair be na deneris of Frans, mailȝis, cortis..tane in payment in this realme.
1568 R. Sempill in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 401 Gif my claith felȝie, ȝe pay nocht a melȝie.
1570 R. Sempill in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 112 Ȝe left him nocht ane Malȝe or Deneir.
a1600 ( W. Stewart tr. H. Boece Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) 2306 Ȝone tratour till assailȝie [who] In all his tyme wes neuirȝit worth ane melȝie.
1707 W. Fleetwood Chronicon Preciosum Pref. sig. Aiiiv Till about 1544, the Silver Money of England consisted of Groats, Half-Groats, Pence, Half-Pence (called, of old, Mails) and Farthings.
1890 J. Service Thir Notandums ix. 67 Gold Pennies and Mailles, Lozenge Lions [etc.].
2. mail noble n. a gold coin of the reign of Edward III; a half-noble.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > noble or angel > half-noble or -angel
angelet1469
half-noble1480
half-angel1503
mail noble1884
1344 in T. Rymer Fœdera (1708) V. 416/1 Et une autre Monoie d'Or, Currante la piece pur Quarante Deners d'Esterlings, que serra appelle Maille Noble.]
1884 R. L. Kenyon Gold Coins Eng. 18 A Tower pound of gold was to be coined into 39 ½ nobles, at 6s̱ 8ḏ..and this new money was made current by a proclamation which declared that the coins were to be called Nobles, Maille Nobles and Ferling Nobles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

† mailn.5

Forms: 1600s maill, 1600s maille, 1600s–1700s mail; Scottish pre-1700 mail, pre-1700 maille. See also mall n.1
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French mail.
Etymology: < French mail (1636 both in sense ‘the game of pall-mall’ and in sense ‘place where the game is played’), shortened form of Middle French, French palmail pall-mall n. The extended sense in French ‘public promenade bordered by trees (on a site where pall-mall was formerly played)’ is attested from 1680, and occurs as the name of such promenades in many French towns and cities. Compare maul n.1, mall n.1 N.E.D. (1904) records pronunciation only as an ‘alien word’ (māy) /mɑːj/.
Obsolete.
The game of pall-mall; a place where the game was played. Hence: a public promenade bordered by trees; the Mail: the Mall in St James's Park, London (see mall n.1).High Mail: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > promenade
maidan?1551
parado1612
promenade1648
mailc1660
esplanade1682
parade1697
outwalk1698
mall1710
alameda1717
paseo1832
walk1843
block1869
broadwalk1930
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > promenade > specifically in St. James's Park
the Mailc1660
mallc1660
the Mall1673
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 146 Recreating my selfe sometimes at the Maill, & sometymes about the Towne. [See ante, p. 145, where the word appears as mall.]
1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) i. 29 Going out of the house, you finde a hansome Mail, and Rare Ponds of water.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 217 A Highway..near as long and as broad as the Mail in St. James's Park.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 11 Feb. 1/3 A long mail of elms looks down into the gulf.]
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

mailv.1

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/
Forms: Middle English maile, 1500s mayle, 1500s–1600s mayl, 1500s– mail, 1600s male.
Origin: Probably formed within English, by conversion; probably modelled on a French lexical item. Etymon: mail n.2
Etymology: Probably < mail n.2 in its earliest sense of ‘bag, pack’. Especially in sense 2, however, probably also influenced by Old French maillol, mailloel, mailleul swaddling-clothes (12th cent.), bag in which a (newly caught) falcon is enclosed (13th cent.; the diminutive maillolet was also used in both senses), Old French mailloler to wrap up, Anglo-Norman mailoler , malioler , malloer to swaddle, Anglo-Norman enmailloler place a falcon in its bag (recorded as mid 14th cent. in Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch s.v. Macula), all ultimately < Old French maille mail n.3Middle Cornish maylye ‘to swaddle’ was probably a borrowing from Middle English (or Anglo-Norman), rather than the converse.
†1. transitive. To tie or wrap up (goods, a parcel, etc.); to envelop. Also figurative and with up. Obsolete.In the early 17th cent. often in expressions like ‘mailed in armour’, with allusion to mail n.3
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > gather together [verb (transitive)] > make into a pack or parcel
hamperc1400
packc1400
to pack up1530
mail1570
emball1588
fardel1594
packet1621
farla1640
to make up1709
embale1727
bale1762
parcel1775
empacket1825
make1849
package1917
1228 in N. S. B. Gras Early Eng. Customs Syst. (1918) 157 (MED) i fraiello de vaddo, i poke de alum, i pak mailede.
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1644/1 It [sc. gold and silver] was matted about with mattes and mayled in littell bundels about ij. foote long.
1588 R. Parke tr. J. G. de Mendoza Hist. Kingdome of China 209 [A present] was mailed and sealed and so sent vnto the viceroy of Aucheo.
1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 ii. iv. 32 Thus with burning Tapor in my hand, Malde [1623 Mayl'd] vp in shame with papers on my backe.
1598 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. (new ed.) f. 51 v How could it be, those that were wont to stand, To see my pompe..Should after see mee mayld vp in a sheet, Do shamefull penance.
1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. Civ Then ledde I warre mailde vp in sheetes of brasse.
1619 Let. fr. Factors at Surat to E.I.C. in Embassy Sir T. Roe 517 To whom wee have delivered a box sealed, maled, and covered.
1653 in T. Fowler Hist. Corpus Christi Coll. (1893) 228 A basket mal'd up with Cords.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Ezra ix. 11 Who..do miserably mail themselves in the filthiness of leudnesse.
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 225 Three hundred Elephants follow richly mail'd with Sea-wolf skins.
1694 W. Burnaby tr. Petronius Satyr (new ed.) 25 He run into the House, leaving behind him an Embroider'd Mantle, mail'd to one of the Saddles.
2. transitive. Falconry. To wrap up (a hawk) in a cloth, etc., to promote tameness or to ensure passivity during an operation. Also with up. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > hawking > [verb (transitive)] > other hawking procedures
enseamc1450
imp1477
rebuke1486
feat1508
mewc1515
canvas1559
cope1575
mail1575
man1575
watchc1575
to imp the wings of1596
pepper1618
stone1618
brail1643
feak1686
hack1873
1575 G. Turberville Bk. Faulconrie 295 Mayle your Hawke fast.
1619 E. Bert Approved Treat. Hawkes ii. i. 46 I did male them vp in a handkercher... I would not male vp the tops of her flying feathers.
a1626 J. Fletcher & W. Rowley Maid in Mill iii. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Bbbb3/1 If you had..handled her as men do unmand Hawks, Cast her, and malde her up in good clean linnen.
1883 J. E. Harting Gloss. in Perfect Bk. Kepinge Sparhawkes 44 To mail a hawk, i.e. to wrap her up in a handkerchief..either to tame her,..or to keep her quiet during an operation.
1967 M. Woodford Man. Falconry (ed. 2) 170 To mail a hawk, i.e. to wrap her up in a sock, or handkerchief.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

mailv.2

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/, Scottish English /mel/
Forms: pre-1700 maill, pre-1700 male, 1800s– mail.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mail n.1
Etymology: < mail n.1
Scottish.
transitive. To rent, pay rent for.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > hiring or renting > hire [verb (transitive)] > rent
to take upc1400
mail1425
farm1435
rent1530
rental1640
1425 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 12/2 Ande gif it be a man at malis þe hous & birnis it reklesly he sal amende þe scaith efter his power.
1877 W. Alexander Notes & Sketches 18th Cent. 8 (E.D.D.) A lone woman or two in a ‘mailt-house’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

mailv.3

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/
Forms: see mail n.3
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mail n.3
Etymology: Ultimately < mail n.3, probably as back-formation < mailed adj.
†1. transitive. To make (a piece of armour) out of mail. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1450 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1911) 127 326 (MED) Disdeyn so thik his haburion hath mayled Of my desyre that I may se ryght noghte.
2. transitive. To clothe or arm with or as with mail. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > of armour: protect [verb (transitive)] > clothe with or encase in > arm with mail
bemail1594
mail1796
1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc v. 4 The martial Maid arose. She mail'd her limbs; The white plumes nodded o'er her helmed head.
1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold I. iii. ii. 172 I will..ask what Englishmen are there who will aim shaft or spear at this breast, never mailed against England.
1955 V. Nabokov Lolita II. xxxii. 192 She would mail her vulnerability in trite brashness and boredom.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

† mailv.4

Forms: 1600s mäle, 1600s–1800s male, 1800s mail.
Origin: Probably formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: English mail , mole n.1
Etymology: Probably < mail, variant of mole n.1 (showing characteristically northern and Scots developments of this word (Old English māl ), although evidence for the corresponding northern and Scots forms of the noun is not found before the 19th cent.). Compare also meal v.1 and mole v.1
Obsolete. Chiefly English regional (northern) and Scottish.
transitive. To spot, stain, discolour.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > soiled condition > soil [verb (transitive)] > spot
bemole1362
bespotc1374
spot1440
mail1677
sye1855
1677 W. Nicolson Gloss. Cumbrian Dial. in Trans. Royal Soc. Lit. (1870) 9 315 Male, to stain.
1691 J. Ray Glossarium Northanhymbricum in Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 145 To Mäle. Decolare.
c1700 W. Kennett MS Lansdowne 1033 (Halliwell) To male, to discolour, to spot, Northumb.
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (at cited word) To Mail, Male, to discolour or stain.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian v, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 117 A bit rag we hae at hame that was mailed wi' the bluid of a bit skirling wean that was hurt some gate.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

mailv.5

Brit. /meɪl/, U.S. /meɪl/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mail n.2
Etymology: < mail n.2
1. transitive. Originally U.S. To send by post, to post. Also with in, off, out.The more usual word in the United Kingdom is post.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > sending items > send items [verb (transitive)] > put in post
to put in1711
letterbox1807
mail1827
post1837
1827 Laws & Regulations Post Office (U.S.) (1843) i. 25 One or more pieces of paper, mailed as a letter,..shall be charged with quadruple postage.
1862 Morning Star 14 Oct. The Federal Post-office department has issued a notice that any letter mailed with stamps at all soiled or defaced will be treated as unpaid.
1875 Atlantic Monthly 35 98/2 They mail 244,000,000 letters a year.
1925 A. Loos Gentlemen prefer Blondes v. 167 I told him to write down what he had to say to me, and mail it to me at the Ritz Hotel.
1948 H. T. Moore in D. H. Lawrence Lett. to B. Russell 8 Lawrence is telling Lady Ottoline that Russell, who has mailed him the synopsis of his lectures..still needs to break away.
1952 M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) i. 8 Maynard Hoar, author of a pamphlet, ‘The Witch Hunt in Our Universities’ (off-printed from the American Scholar and mailed out gratis by the bushel to a legion of ‘prominent educators’).
1968 M. Richler in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. 170 Once more Mervyn mailed off his novel.
1972 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ont.) 13 June 15/6 To obtain a pair of Skeelers, consumers must mail in..$9.95 plus provincial tax.
1992 Coin Monthly Feb. 26/2 The People's Tower at Blackpool ensures that postcards posted in the box at the summit will be mailed as a personalised ‘first day cover’.
2. transitive and intransitive. Computing. = email v.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > network > [verb (transitive)] > email
mail1972
email1983
1972 A. K. Bhushan Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 385. 3 The files to be mailed are transmitted via the data connection in ascii type.
1984 C. Townsend Electronic Mail & Beyond x. 118 You will then need to wait a few seconds until the letter is ‘mailed’, and then you will see the prompt again.
1990 Pract. Computing Sept. 92/3 Cix subscribers are mailed by name, such as jack@cix.
1996 WEBTechniques Aug. 23/1 You could also use a simple mailto in your form, to mail the unfiltered information directly to your email account.

Phrases

colloquial (chiefly North American). to mail it in: to perform (an action or task) without full attention or in a perfunctory or unenthusiastic manner. Cf. phone v. 3.
ΚΠ
1971 Sun (Baltimore) 19 Sept. (TV Week section) 16/3 To a veteran stage actress like her, television is a snap... ‘I could have mailed it in,’ she said with her typical wry humor.
1983 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 23 Mar. Unless you change [how you sing it], it becomes a bore, and you might as well just mail it in.
1992 Sport (N.Y.) Dec. 51/3 A lot of guys mailed it in..[and] did not really play as hard as they should have.
2007 J. Lohr Power of Story 144 You must write..while fully conscious. No sleepwalking through the process; no mailing it in.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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