Mail Meaning
/meɪl/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA bag or wallet.
nounA bag containing letters to be delivered by post.
Sentence Examples
Robbers wrecked the mail train.
Don't forget to mail this letter on your way to school.
Don't forget to mail that letter to your mother.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
After moving to a new city, she had to ____ her important documents to her new address.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Did you check the ____ today? I'm expecting an important letter from my friend who lives in London.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *malhō Frankish *malhabor. Medieval Latin malader. Anglo-Norman malebor. ▲ Old French malebor. Middle English male English mail From Middle English male, from Anglo-Norman male, Old French male (“bag, wallet”), from Frankish *malha (“bag”), from Proto-Germanic *malhō (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *molko- (“leather pouch”). Compare Dutch maal.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale; / A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male!"
— 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
"Open the Males, yet guard the treaſure ſure.
Lay out our golden wedges to the view,
That their reflexions may amaze the Perſeans."
— c. 1587–1588 (date written), [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:
"The transfer by tender of some 1,300 mail bags was effected smartly, and the "Ocean Mails Special" train was ready at 9.19 a.m."
— 1944 July and August, Charles E. Lee, “The "City of Truro"”, in Railway Magazine, page 202:
"All trains stop at all stations, with the exception of a few "local" stations near Mombasa and an odd flag stop or two usually missed by the mails."
— 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:
"On the morning after the one-day strike, October 4, one of the Type 4s on crew-training, No. D169, was appropriated to head the 3 a.m. mail to Hull, as no steam locomotive had been lit up and the usual Hull Type 3 was not available; [...]."
— 1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: North Eastern Region”, in Modern Railways, pages 422, 425:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After moving to a new city, she had to ____ her important documents to her new address.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Did you check the ____ today? I'm expecting an important letter from my friend who lives in London.