# mail

Pronunciation: say "MAYL" /meɪl/

## Noun

1. Letters, packages, and other items sent and delivered by the postal service, especially those delivered to a particular person or address.
   - Simple: Letters and packages sent by post, or the ones that come to your home.
   - _Severe weather delayed the mail across the region for two days._
   - _Workers at the depot load mail onto outgoing trucks each evening._
3. Electronic mail: the system for sending messages between computers over a network, or the messages sent and received this way, taken together.
   - Simple: Email, or all the emails you send and get.
   - _The company moved all its internal mail to a new server over the weekend._
   - _Her mail had been down all morning, so the message never reached her._
4. The postal service or system considered as a whole.
   - Simple: The system that collects, carries, and delivers letters and packages.
   - _Before email, businesses depended on the mail for nearly all correspondence._
   - _A nationwide strike shut down the mail for several weeks._
5. A single electronic message sent or received through email. *(India)*
   - Simple: A single message sent through an email system.
   - _A mail from the recruiter arrived just after midnight._
   - _He flagged the mail so he wouldn't forget to reply._
7. Flexible armor made of interlinked metal rings or small overlapping plates.
   - Simple: Old armor made of small metal rings or plates joined together.
   - _The soldier's mail turned aside the glancing blow._
   - _Rings of mail covered him from neck to knee._

## Verb

2. To send a letter, parcel, or similar item through the postal service.
   - Simple: To send a letter or package using the postal system.
   - _She will mail the contract first thing tomorrow._
   - _They mailed the invitations three weeks before the wedding._
6. To send a message or file to someone by email, or to contact someone by email.
   - Simple: To send something to someone by email, or to email them.
   - _She mailed the spreadsheet to her manager before lunch._
   - _As soon as the meeting ends, she'll mail everyone a link to the shared folder._

## Noun

8. A stagecoach, train, or ship that delivers letters and parcels. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A coach, train, or ship that carried letters and parcels from place to place.
9. A bag holding letters to be carried and delivered by post. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A bag used to carry letters that will be delivered by the postal system.
11. A speckle on the plumage of a bird; also, a feather marked with such speckles. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A spot on a bird's feather, or a feather marked with spots.

## Verb

10. To restrain by binding the wings or arms; to pinion. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To bind a person's arms, or a bird's wings, so they cannot move.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The hard protective covering of an animal, such as the scales and plates of reptiles or the shell of a lobster.
- (noun) A bag, trunk, or box for carrying clothing and other belongings when traveling.
- (verb) To equip or protect someone with mail: flexible armor made of interlinked metal rings.
- (noun) A device of interlinked rings used to rub loose hemp off lines and white cordage.
- (noun) A former French coin equal in value to half a denier.
- (noun) In Scottish usage, a payment due, such as rent, tribute, or tax.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6, 8–9** — The word was male in Middle English, borrowed through Anglo-Norman and Old French male ("bag, wallet"). Behind that French word lies Frankish *malha ("bag"), which goes back to Proto-Germanic *malhō ("bag, pouch") and perhaps further to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "leather pouch".
**Meanings 7, 10–11** — Latin macula ("blemish, mesh"), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "smear, rub," became Vulgar Latin *macla and then Old French maille ("loop, stitch"). Middle English borrowed maille as mayle ("mail armor").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mail (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).