post

Less common meanings

13. 13
    informverbtransitive

    To inform or bring someone up to date on the details of a matter, often with up.

    Her assistant kept her posted on every change to the travel schedule.

    The contractor promised to keep us posted on the repairs, and he sent a short update every evening.

    UsageMost often keep someone posted: keep me posted.

    Similarinform, update, brief, advise, apprise

    Note

    Being kept current comes in two shapes. With up and in, the verb describes someone well informed: the Saturday Review in 1872 found a man 'thoroughly posted up in the politics and literature of the day'. Without up, it settles into the everyday request keep me posted, which simply means 'tell me as things change'. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The quoted wording appeared in the Saturday Review in 1872; Wiktionary identifies the article as “Interviewing a Prince”, dated 2 March 1872, page 273. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    pay bailverbtransitive

    To pay a sum of money that must be put up in advance, such as bail or a required stake in a betting game.

    She posted bail within hours of the arraignment.

    The defendant's employer agreed to post the $50,000 bond.

    UsageUsually post bail or post bond.

    Similarpay, deposit, lodge

    Note

    Courts give the deposit idea real stakes. Bail or a bond is posted as security that the defendant will appear for trial; it is refunded if the defendant appears and forfeited on a bail jump. Property can serve as well as cash, so a valuable watch may be used to post bail. David Andrew Schultz's Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution records the criticism that the system is biased against the poor. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Bail is posted to secure the defendant’s appearance in court. nycourts.gov
    • Posted cash bail is refunded when the defendant appears as required. courts.state.md.us
    • Failure to appear can result in forfeiture of the posted security. nccourts.gov
    • Some courts accept property instead of cash, and a sufficiently valuable watch may qualify. ndl.ethernet.edu.et
    • David Andrew Schultz’s Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution records criticism that the American bail system disadvantages poor defendants. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    place of dutynouncountable

    An assigned station where someone, such as a guard or sentry, is required to remain on duty.

    The sentry was disciplined for abandoning his post.

    Nurses returned to their posts as soon as the alarm ended.

    UsagePeople stay at their post, or leave or abandon their post.

    Similarstation, position, place

    Note

    A third source lies behind the senses of an assigned place, probably French poste. The word also covers the fixed structures themselves, like the security posts The Economist found at the gates of Colombo's port in 2013. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The assigned-station sense probably comes from French poste. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Economist described security posts at the entrance to Colombo’s port in 2013. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    near the basketnouncountable

    On a basketball court, the zone near the basket.

    He backed his defender down in the post before spinning toward the rim.

    Centers who dominate the post draw double-teams all game long.

    Similarpaint

    Oppositeperimeter

17. 17
    battery terminalnouncountable

    Either pole of a battery, the terminal point where a cable or wire is attached.

    Corrosion on the negative post can keep a car from starting.

    He tightened the clamps on both posts before turning the key.

    Similarterminal, pole

18. 18
    send by mailverbAustraliaNew ZealandUKtransitive

    To send a letter, parcel, or other item of mail through the postal service.

    He posted the signed contract back to the solicitor that afternoon.

    Remember to post your ballot at least a week before the election.

    UsageYou post a letter to someone, or post someone a letter; North American English uses mail.

    Similarmail, send, dispatch

    Note

    The verb turns the British mail word into action: you post a letter where Americans mail one. Postal notices use it plainly, promising that items posted before a cut-off time arrive the next working day. Because the same verb also means publishing online, 'I posted it' sometimes needs context to be clear. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Postal notices promise next-working-day delivery for items posted before a specified cut-off. anpost.com
19. 19
    adverb

    By means of the postal service, as a method of sending or delivery.

    Note

    The adverb stands bare and admits no degrees. A thing is sent post the way it might be sent airmail, with no preposition and no more or less about it. Keep it apart from the old adverb meaning with speed, as in riding post, which comes from the relays of post horses, not from the mail service. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The older speed sense developed from travel using relays of post horses. en.wiktionary.org
    • “Riding post” is an attested example of the older expression. gutenberg.org
20. 20
    enter in ledgerverbtransitive

    To transfer an entry or account from the journal to the ledger.

    Bookkeepers post each journal entry to the proper ledger account.

    The accountant posted the month's transactions before preparing the trial balance.

    Similarenter, record, transfer

    Note

    Bookkeeping uses the word for the step between two books. In double-entry accounts, entries first recorded in the journal are posted, debit and credit alike, to their accounts in the ledger. John Arbuthnot, writing as Humphry Polesworth in 1712, has John Bull's second wife scold him: 'You have not posted your books these ten years', so the books themselves can be the object as well as the entries. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Posting transfers journal entries, including debits and credits, to ledger accounts. openstax.org
    • Arbuthnot wrote the cited passage under the name Humphry Polesworth in a work published in 1712. en.wiktionary.org
    • The speaker is John Bull's second wife, addressing John Bull in Arbuthnot's fictional narrative. gutenberg.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in the text and illustrates 'books' as the object of 'post'. gutenberg.org
21. 21
    after filmingnouncolloquialuncountable

    Work done on a film or television program after shooting ends, known in full as post-production.

    The director spent six months in post reshaping the film's ending.

    The director spent eight months in post, fine-tuning the sound and visual effects.

    UsageUsed with no article: a film is in post, and crews say we'll fix it in post.

    Similarpost-production

    Note

    Film crews clipped post-production to one syllable. The clipping is uncountable and takes no article: a film is in post, and a flaw left on set is something 'we'll fix in post'. Bruce Mamer's Film Production Technique warns that relying on that fix may limit your flexibility. Compare the medical clipping, which is countable. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Post originated as a clipping of post-production. en.wiktionary.org
    • Film Production Technique is by Bruce Mamer. openlibrary.org
    • 2013 identifies a later edition. A third edition already appeared in 2003. The first-edition title-page year could not be verified. openlibrary.org
    • Mamer warns that fixing problems in post may limit flexibility. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    nounAustraliaNew ZealandUKcountable or uncountable

    A single delivery of mail, or the batch of letters delivered together to one person or address.

    She sorted through the morning post over her coffee.

    His acceptance letter finally arrived in Tuesday's post.

    UsageThe morning post or today's post for one delivery; post with no article for letters in general.

    Similarmail, delivery

    Note

    Here the regional word names what actually arrives. American English uses mail for both, just as it does for the postal service itself.

23. 23
    nouncountable

    On an earring, the slender metal pin that passes through the piercing in a person's ear.

    The post snapped off just behind the pearl, so she took the earring to a jeweler.

    Earrings with surgical-steel posts are a safe choice for newly pierced ears.

    Similarpin

24. 24
    nounUScountableus

    A local branch of a veterans' group, such as the American Legion, that meets in a hall of its own.

    The local VFW post rents out its hall for weddings and graduation parties.

    Members of three American Legion posts raised money together for a new veterans' memorial.

    Similarchapter, branch

    Note

    This is an American use, tied to veterans' groups such as the American Legion and the VFW. The word covers both the members and their building, so a veteran can belong to a post and also head down to the post for a meeting, a meal or a dance. Context usually makes clear whether the people or the hall is meant. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The American Legion is a veterans' organization. illegion.org
    • The VFW is a veterans' organization. vfw.org
25. 25
    nouncolloquial

    An autopsy, or post-mortem examination, conducted to determine the cause of death.
26. 26
    noun

    In American football, a passing route in which a receiver runs ten to twenty yards straight downfield, then cuts at an angle toward the middle of the field and the goalposts.
27. 27
    verb

    To denounce or hold someone up to public blame, as by a public notice or proclamation.

    On Pain of being posted to your Sorrow Fail not, at Four, to meet me here To-morrow.

    1732, George Granville, Epilogue to the She-Gallants
28. 28
    verb

    To enter a name on an official list or register, as for military service or promotion.
29. 29
    noun

    In dentistry, a slender rod set into a tooth's root canal to help hold a crown in place.
30. 30
    noun

    The vertical, upright section of a crochet stitch.
31. 31
    verb

    To rise and sink in the saddle in rhythm with a horse's motion, especially at the trot.
32. 32
    noun

    In barbershop and similar singing, the melody's last note, held long while the other voices change chords around it.
33. 33
    noun

    A traditional sheet size for paper, about 19¼ inches long and 15½ inches wide.
34. 34
    nounobsolete

    The doorpost of an inn or tavern where customers' tabs were marked in chalk, and so a tab or debt itself.

    when God ſends coyne, I will diſcharge your poaſt

    1600, Samuel Rowlands, The knauve of clubs
35. 35
    nounobsolete

    One of a line of messengers stationed at stages along a road, each carrying the ruler's letters, and later other mail, to the next.
36. 36
    noundated

    A stopping place on an established route where travelers could rest, eat, and often change horses.
37. 37
    nounobsolete

    Rapid, urgent movement, of the kind expected from someone carrying the mail.

    And then in post he came from Mantua.

    c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”
38. 38
    nounobsolete

    A person who manages a station, particularly one where mail is handled or relayed.

    there he held the office of postmaster, or, as it was then called, post, for several years.

    1858, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England
39. 39
    verb

    To journey by changing to fresh horses at each stage, as couriers first did.
40. 40
    verb

    To go somewhere fast.
41. 41
    adverb

    By relays of fresh horses, or more loosely, with great speed.