English
mail
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English male, from Anglo-Norman male, Old French male, from Frankish *malhu, from Proto-Germanic *malhō, from Proto-Indo-European *molko-.

Noun

mail

  1. (now regional) A bag or wallet. [from 13thc.]
    • 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
      What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale; / A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male!
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii ↗:
      Open the Males, yet guard the treaſure ſure.
      Lay out our golden wedges to the view,
      That their reflexions may amaze the Perſeans.
  2. A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.
  3. The (physical) material conveyed by the postal service. [from 17thc.]
    Synonyms: snail mail
    Antonyms: email, mail
    Meronym: mailpiece
    Don't forget to pick up the mail on your way.
    1. (chiefly US, uncountable) The letters, parcels, etc. delivered to a particular address or person. [from 19thc.]
      It should be in your mail today, unless the post office lost it!
  4. (dated) A stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.
  5. The postal service or system in general. [from 17thc.]
    Synonyms: post
    He decided to send his declaration by mail.
  6. (uncountable) Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages. [from 20thc.]
    Synonyms: email
    Yahoo Mail has been providing mail service since 1997.
  7. (uncountable) Email messages conceived in bulk (as with the analogous sense of physical mail).
    Synonyms: email
    You've got mail [old audio clip announcing new email in the 1990s-2000s]
  8. (countable, especially, Indian English) An email message.
    Synonyms: email
    Please look through those mails and confirm whether you received the one about scheduling.
  9. A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.
    • 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC ↗:
      “Fetch me the little private mail with the padlocks, that I recommended to your particular charge — d'ye hear?”
Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

mail (mails, present participle mailing; simple past and past participle mailed)

  1. (ditransitive) To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.
  2. (ditransitive) To send by electronic mail.
    Please mail me the spreadsheet by the end of the day.
  3. (transitive) To contact (a person) by electronic mail.
    I need to mail my tutor about the deadline.
Synonyms
  • (send through the mail) post
Translations Etymology 2

From Middle English mayle, borrowed from Old French maille, from Vulgar Latin , from Latin macula, probably from Proto-Indo-European *smh₁-tleh₂, from *smeh₁- ("smear, rub").

Noun

mail (uncountable)

  1. (uncountable, history) Armour consisting of metal rings linked together.
    • 1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC ↗, § LVII, page 73 ↗:
      The knight is laid in his mail, only the hands and face being bare.
    • 1956, C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle:
      "That's funny looking mail, Sire," said Eustace.
      "Aye, lad," said Tirian. "No Narnian dwarf smithied that. […]
  2. (uncountable, by extension, now, fiction, fantasy) Armour consisting of small plates linked together.
  3. (nautical) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
  4. Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
    • 1716, John Gay, Epistle to the Earl of Burlington:
      We […] strip the lobster of his scarlet mail.
    • 1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Journey in the Dark”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published September 1973, →ISBN, page 412 ↗:
      There beryl, pearl, and opal pale, / And metal wrought like fishes' mail, / Buckler and corslet, axe and sword, / And shining spears were laid in hoard.
  5. (obsolete, rare) A spot on a bird's feather; by extension, a spotted feather.
    • 1676, Izaak Walton, “[The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation: Part I […].] Fovrth Day.”, in Richard Le Gallienne, editor, The Compleat Angler, 5th edition, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head, published 1897, →OCLC ↗, page 116 ↗:
      [T]he moorish-fly: made with the body of duskish wool; and the wings made of the blackish mail of the drake.
Related terms Translations Verb

mail (mails, present participle mailing; simple past and past participle mailed)

  1. (transitive) To arm with mail.
  2. (transitive) To pinion.
Etymology 3

From Middle English mal, male from Old English māl from Old Norse mál.

Noun

mail (plural mails)

  1. (historical) An old French coin worth half a denier.
  2. (chiefly, Scottish) A monetary payment or tribute.
  3. (chiefly, Scottish) Rent.
  4. (chiefly, Scottish) Tax.


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