(in Britain until 1969) the department of the central Government that provided postal and telephone services
the main post office in a locality
First recorded in 1650–60
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For 30 years, he was a United States Postal Service employee, toiling mostly in the vast mail-sorting room beyond the imposing columns of what was New York City’s general post office in Midtown Manhattan.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
The hall occupies what was once a mail-sorting room in the city’s general post office.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 25, 2021
Another 500 occupied the general post office, 200 moved into the Civic Art Gallery and there they stayed one month.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was not, however, until 1816, that the deputy postmaster general made any mention of the island service in his reports to the general post office in London.
From The History of the Post Office in British North America by Smith, William, Sir
With the first intimation at the general post office of the announcement made in Canada there was despatched a letter from the secretary informing Stayner that he had quite mistaken the purport of the circular.
From The History of the Post Office in British North America by Smith, William, Sir
It turned out to be the Fullerton Hotel, which first opened in 1928 as the General Post Office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
Nearby is the General Post Office, where, shortly before the 1916 Easter Rising, Patrick Pearse stood outside its doors and read the impassioned Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 14, 2019
The new exhibit at GPO Witness History offers an immersive look at the 1916 Easter Uprising from underneath the General Post Office, which served as the rebel headquarters.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 16, 2018
Staff at Unicorn Restorations spend up to 30 hours stripping old kiosks, repainting them in the same shades of red once stipulated by the General Post Office and putting in new glass.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2015
My father, who worked as a clerk at the General Post Office of Calcutta, died of encephalitis when I was sixteen.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
