letterbox

[let-er-boks]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR letterbox ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Also letter box. Chiefly British. a public or private mailbox.

Digital Technology, Television. a technique for displaying a wide-screen film or landscape video on a narrower screen by reducing its size but retaining the aspect ratio, with black bands filling the screen above and below the picture (often used attributively):letterbox videos.Compare pan and scan, pillarbox(def 1).

verb (used with object)

Digital Technology, Television. to display (a film or video) by using the letterbox technique.

RELATED WORDS

mailbox, postbox

Nearby words

Origin of letterbox

First recorded in 1765–75; letter¹ + box¹

Examples from the Web for letterbox

He felt in the letterbox, drew forth a letter, and with this he went back to the sitting-room.
The Island Pharisees|John Galsworthy
Friend Fox thanked him very kindly, made himself very small, and was out of sight like a letter in a letterbox.
The Fairy Ring|Various
There was a letterbox at the corner, a foot from the older man's shoulder.
The Lifted Bandage|Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews
That letter he dropped into the Pixley letterbox himself that night, and so was assured of its delivery.
Pearl of Pearl Island|John Oxenham