Homophones

• male

Noun

Singular mail

Plural countable and uncountable; plural mails

mail (countable and uncountable; plural mails)

1. (uncountable) regular delivery of letters and small parcels, see also post
2. (not used in plural form) the organisation which operates such service (e.g. in Britain the Royal Mail)
3. (now rare) a single batch of mail picked up by such a service
   • 1823, The stranger in Liverpool; or, An historical and descriptive view of the town of Liverpool and its environs, Seventh Edition, T. Kaye, page 96,

     The following are the hours at which the letter-box of this office is closed for making up the several mails, and the hours at which each mail is despatched: ¶ […]

   • 1887, John Houston Merrill (editor), The American and English Encyclopædia of Law, Volume I, Edward Thompson, page 121,

     If he retains the account, and permits several mails to pass without objecting to it, he will be held to have admitted its correctness.

4. See mails.
5. (uncountable) electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages

Synonyms

• post (UK, Ireland, other dialects?)

Derived terms

• accountable mail
• air mail
• chain mail
• e-mail
• email
• electronic mail
• fan mail
• hate mail

• junk mail
• mailbag
• mail boat
• mail bomb
• mailbox
• mail carrier
• mail fraud

• mailman
• mailmerge
• mail order
• mail plane
• mail relay
• mailroom
• mail slot

• mail stop
• mail train
• mail truck
• snail mail
• voice mail
• vote-by-mail
• webmail

Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects, wherein written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.

In principle, a postal service can be private or public. Governments often place restrictions on private postal delivery systems. Since the mid 19th century national postal systems have generally been established as government monopolies with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is often in the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk mailing.

Postal systems often have functions other than sending letters. In some countries, the postal system also has some authority over telephone and telegraph systems. In others, postal systems allow for savings accounts and handling applications for passports.

Early postal systems

The art of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the diffusion of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the diffusion of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 BC). This practice almost certainly has roots in the much older practice of oral messaging and may have been built on a pre-existing infrastructure.