mail

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mail [noun] (POST)
US /meɪl/ 
UK /meɪl/ 
Example: 

air mail

Oxford Essential Dictionary

mail

 (British also post) noun (no plural)

1 the way of sending and receiving letters and packages:
to send a letter by airmail

2 letters and packages that you send or receive:
Is there any mail for me?
Look also at email.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

mail

I. mail1 S3 W3 /meɪl/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[Sense 1-3: Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: male 'bag']
[Sense 4: Date: 1200-1300; Language: French; Origin: maille, from Latin macula 'spot, woven threads']
1. the letters and packages that are delivered to you:
You shouldn't read other people's mail.
He found a mountain of mail waiting for him.
She promised to forward my mail to my new address (=send it from your old home or office to your new one).
He gets sacks of fan mail (=letters from people who admire him).
hate mail (=letters from people who hate you)
2. especially American English the system of collecting and delivering letters and packages SYN post British English:
The mail here’s really slow and unreliable.
The product will be sold mainly through the mail.
in the mail
I’ll put the check in the mail tomorrow.
by mail
Did you send the document by mail?
registered/express/first-class etc mail
I sent my application by registered mail.
Most reports are sent via internal mail (=a system of sending documents to people inside the same organization).
3. messages that are sent and received on a computer SYN email:
I check my mail a couple of times a day.
She's just received another mail message from them.
4. ↑armour made of small pieces of metal, worn by soldiers in the Middle Ages
⇨ ↑voice mail
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
send mail Please do not send personal mail to my work address.
get/receive mail Did we get any mail this morning?
the mail comes/arrives The mail had come late that day.
the mail goes (out) (=it leaves an organization to be sent) What time does the mail go out?
read your mail The first thing he did was read his mail.
open your mail She opened her mail as she ate her breakfast.
forward/redirect somebody's mail (=send it to a new address) The post office will forward your mail for a limited time.
deliver the mail The postman had just delivered the mail.
sort mail (=put it into different piles, ready for delivery) Some mail still has to be sorted by hand.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + mail
personal/private mail (=for one person to read and nobody else) He accused her of reading his private mail.
fan mail (=letters from fans) He gets so much fan mail he had to employ a secretary to deal with it.
hate mail (=letters expressing hate) She got threatening phone calls and hate mail.
junk mail (=letters, usually advertisements, that you do not want) I only ever get junk mail and bills.
registered mail (=letters insured against loss or damage) You have to sign for registered mail.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

mail

mail [mail mails mailed mailing] noun, verb   [meɪl]    [meɪl]

noun uncountable
1. (BrE also post) the official system used for sending and delivering letters, packages, etc
• a mail service/train/van
• the Royal Mail
• Your cheque is in the mail.
• We do our business by mail.

see also  airmail, snail mail, voicemail

2. (BrE also post) letters, packages, etc. that are sent and delivered
• There isn't much mail today.
• I sat down to open the mail.
• Is there a letter from them in the mail?
hate mail (= letters containing insults and threats)

see also  junk mail, surface mail

3. messages that are sent or received on a computer
• Check regularly for new mail.

see also  electronic mail, email

4. used in the title of some newspapers

• the Mail on Sunday

5. =  chain mail
• a coat of mail  
Word Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘travelling bag’): from Old French male ‘wallet’, of West Germanic origin. The sense “by post” dates from the mid 17th cent.  
Culture:
postal services
Most letters and packages posted in Britain are dealt with by the Royal Mail, which is part of the Royal Mail Group Ltd, together with Parcelforce, which delivers larger packages, and the Post Office, which manages the country’s many post offices. As well as selling stamps, post offices take in letters and packages that are to be sent by special delivery. Post offices also sell vehicle licences and often greetings cards and stationery. In villages they are often combined with a newsagent’s and general store. In recent years, many smaller post offices have been closed because they do not make a profit, though this often led to protests from local people.
Mail (= letters, bills, etc.) is often called post in British English. When sending a letter, people can choose between two levels of service, first class or the cheaper second class. Normally, first-class mail is delivered the day after it is posted and second-class mail within two or three days. Every address in Britain includes a postcode of letters and numbers, for example OX1 2PX for an address in Oxford, that makes it possible to sort the post by machine. Letters are posted in red postboxes, also called letter boxes. Each has a sign giving times of collections. Postmen and women deliver mail each morning direct to homes and businesses. They put the mail through a flap in the door, which is also called a letter box. In the country they travel round in red vans, but in towns and villages they often ride bicycles.
The system that deals with mail in the US, the US Postal Service (USPS), is an independent part of the government. Its head is the Postmaster General. Mail carriers, sometimes called mailmen though many are women, deliver mail to homes and businesses once a day. Most homes have mailboxes fixed outside, near the door. It is very uncommon for a house to have a letter box in the door for letters. People whose houses are a long way from the road have a special rural mailbox by the road. This has a flag which the mail carrier raises so that the people in the house can see when they have mail. To mail (= send) a letter, people leave it on top of their own mailbox or put it in one of the many blue mailboxes in cities and towns. Every address in the US includes an abbreviation for the name of the state and a ZIP code, which is used to help sort the mail. Post offices sell stamps and deal with mail that has to be insured. Most cities have one post office which stays open late. Americans complain about the Postal Service, but it usually does an efficient job at a reasonable price.
In the US only Postal Service can deliver mail to letter boxes and the Service has a monopoly on first-class mail that is not urgent.In Britain the post office lost its monopoly on delivery of post in 2006. In both countries there are many companies who provide courier and messenger services for urgent mail. The largest of these include FedEx and DHL. In Britain private companies may also deliver mail to letter boxes. 
Thesaurus:
mail noun U
• There isn't any mail for you today.
letter • • email • • message • • note • • memo • • fax • • text • |BrE post • |formal correspondence • • communication • • memorandum
(a/an) mail/letter/email/message/note/memo/fax/text/post/correspondence/communication/memorandum from/to sb
(a) personal/private mail/letter/email/message/note/correspondence/communication
send/receive (a/an) mail/letter/email/message/note/memo/fax/text/post/correspondence/communication/memorandum 
British/American:
post / mail
Nouns
In BrE the official system used for sending and delivering letters, parcels/packages, etc. is usually called the post. In NAmE it is usually called the mail: I’ll put an application form in the post/mail for you today. ◊ Send your fee by post/mail to this address. Mail is sometimes used in BrE in such expressions as the Royal Mail. Post occurs in NAmE in such expressions as the US Postal Service.
In BrE post is also used to mean the letters, parcels/packages, etc. that are delivered to you. Mail is the usual word in NAmE and is sometimes also used in BrE: Was there any post/mail this morning? ◊ I sat down to open my post/mail. Verbs
Compare: I’ll post the letter when I go out. (BrE) and I’ll mail the letter when I go out. (NAmE)Compounds
Note these words: postman (BrE), mailman/mail carrier (both NAmE); postbox (BrE), mailbox (NAmE) Some compounds are used in both BrE and NAmE: post office, postcard, mail order. 
Example Bank:
• Has the mail come yet?
• He has received death threats and hate mail from angry fans.
• I throw away junk mail without reading it.
• I throw junk mail straight in the bin without reading it.
• If we want to send something to another department, we use the internal mail.
• Is there anything interesting in the mail?
• My reply is in the mail.
• Send it by first-class mail.
• She checked her mail before leaving the hotel.
• Some people let their assistants handle the mail.
• The mail carrier didn't deliver the mail on Friday.
• The mail is collected twice a day.
• The postcode allows the mail to be sorted automatically.
• We got the Post Office to redirect our mail when we moved.
• We had our mail redirected when we moved out.
• direct mail advertising
• the strange piece of fan mail she'd received two days earlier
• Half a million tonnes of junk mail is generated every year in the UK.
• I sat down to open the mail.
• Is there a letter from them in the mail?
• She's received a lot of hate mail for speaking out about it.
• There isn't much mail today.
• You've got mail.

Derived: mail something out 

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
 

mail / meɪl / noun [ S or U ] ( mainly UK post ) (POST)

A2 the letters and parcels that are sent by post, or the system for sending letters and parcels from place to place:

She spent the morning reading and answering her mail.

All of our customers will be contacted by mail.

The book came in yesterday's mail.

Some strange things get sent through the mail.

 

mail / meɪl / noun [ C or U ] (EMAIL)

A2 email:

I had almost 50 unread mails in my inbox.

You have mail.

 

mail / meɪl / noun [ U ] (COVERING)

→  chain mail

© Cambridge University Press 2013

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

mail

[me͟ɪl]
 
 mails, mailing, mailed
 1) N-SING: the N, also by N The mail is the public service or system by which letters and parcels are collected and delivered.
  Your check is in the mail...
  People had to renew their motor vehicle registrations through the mail...
  The firm has offices in several large cities, but does most of its business by mail.
  Syn:
  post
 2) N-UNCOUNT: also the N You can refer to letters and parcels that are delivered to you as mail.
  There was no mail except the usual junk addressed to the occupier...
  Nora looked through the mail.
  Syn:
  post
 3) VERB If you mail a letter or parcel to someone, you send it to them by putting it in a post box or taking it to a post office. [mainly AM]
  [V n to n] Last year, he mailed the documents to French journalists...
  [V n n] He mailed me the contract...
  [V n with n] The Government has already mailed some 18 million households with details of the public offer. [Also V n](in BRIT, usually use post)
 4) VERB To mail a message to someone means to send it to them by means of electronic mail or a computer network.
  [be V-ed prep] ...if a report must be electronically mailed to an office by 9 am the next day. [Also V n]
 N-UNCOUNT
 Mail is also a noun. If you have any problems then send me some mail.
 5) → See also mailing, chain mail, e-mail, electronic mail, hate mail, junk mail, surface mail
  Phrasal Verbs:
  - mail out

 

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

mail
3mail noun [noncount] : a kind of protective clothing (called armor) that is made of many small pieces or rings of metal which are linked together
• a coat of mail
- see also chain mail

- compare 1mail

mail
3mail noun [noncount] : a kind of protective clothing (called armor) that is made of many small pieces or rings of metal which are linked together
• a coat of mail
- see also chain mail

- compare 1mail

1mail /ˈmeɪl/ noun [noncount]
Mail is used in British English but it is much more common in U.S. English. The usual word in British English is post.
1 : the system used for sending letters and packages from one person to another
• They do business by mail.
• Don't bring the check to the office—send it through the mail.
• The check is in the mail. [=the check has been sent and will be delivered by mail]
• I hope the check hasn't gotten lost in the mail.
• interoffice mail
- called also (chiefly Brit) post,
- see also airmail, direct mail, registered mail, return mail, surface mail, voice mail
2 : letters or packages sent from one person to another
• Was the notice in today's mail?
• Did we get any mail today?
• Has the mail arrived yet?
• sorting through the mail
• There's a pile of mail on the table.
• collecting and delivering the mail
• reading the mail
• They got a lot of hate mail [=extremely angry letters, e-mail, etc.] from people who disagree with their policies.
• He has a job in the mail room. [=the room in an office where mail is handled]
- called also (chiefly Brit) post,
- see also fan mail, junk mail, snail mail
31e-mail
• I need to check my computer to see if I've gotten any mail today.
the mails chiefly US law formal : the system used for sending letters, packages, etc. : a nation's postal system
• packages sent through the mails
• He was charged with using the mails to commit fraud.

- compare 3mail