mail

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“
By the stir you would have thought the mail was at the door, but it was still too early in the night.

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Definitions (60)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. noun Materials, such as letters and packages, handled in a postal system.
  2. noun Postal material for a specific person or organization.
  3. noun Material processed for distribution from a post office at a specified time: the morning mail.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (35)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (6)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (7)

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Examples (50)

  • And if my mail is an indication, they're already Republicans. —  Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
  • Police say the mail was addressed to District Attorney Ed Jagels. —  TurnTo23.com - Local News
  • Mexico's government has closed schools, museums, movie theaters and libraries in Mexico City and surrounding areas until further notice, according to an e-mail from the National Arts and Culture Council.
  • In any movie, checking your mail is a matter of zooming in on the exact nugget that is important to the plot.
  • I asked DMOZ nicely about this, but my mail was then returned as spam. —  WebProNews Feed
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This word has been looked up 151 times.

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Etymologies (8)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English male, bag, from Old French, of Germanic origin.
  2. Middle English, from Old French maile, from Latin macula, blemish, mesh.
  3. Middle English mol, maile, from Old Norse māl, lawsuit.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (5)

  1. from Middle English maile, male, maille, maylle, from Old French maile, maille, a link of mail, a mesh of a net, French maille, link of mail, a mesh, stitch, = Provencal malha = Spanish malla = Portuguese malha = Italian maglia, link of mail, mail, stitch, from Latin macula, a spot, speck, hole, mesh of a net: see macle, mackle, macula. In def. 1, the orig. sense, the English word may possibly be in part due to Anglo-Saxon māl, mæl, a spot: see mole.
  2. from mail, n.
  3. from Middle English male = Middle Dutch macle, Dutch maal = German male, from Old French male, malle, a bag, wallet, portmanteau, French malle, a peddler's basket, a trunk, mail (post), mail-coach, = Spanish Portuguese mala, a bag, trunk, from Middle Latin mala, a bag; prob. of Celtic origin, from Irish and Gaelic mala = Breton mal, a bag, sack; but the Roman and Celtic forms may be from the Teutonic: cf. Old High German malaha, malha, Middle High German malhe, a saddle-bag, a wallet; Icelandic malr, a knapsack. The ult. origin is undetermined.
  4. from Middle English maile, maille, from Old French maille, maaille, meaille (French maille), feminine, mail, masculine, a coin, a halfpenny (see def.), medaille, a coin (medal): see medal. In def. 2 a particular use, like penny in a similar sense, for ‘money paid,’ ‘tax,’ hence ‘rent.’
  5. from Old French mail, maill, mal, maul, French mail, from Latin malleus, a mall, mallet: see mall.
 

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/meɪl/
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