(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
At the general post office in London the report was turned over to the solicitor with directions to prepare a case for submission to the law officers of the crown.
From The History of the Post Office in British North America by Smith, William, Sir
Neale, at his own cost, was to establish a postal system, comprising a general post office at a place agreed upon, and one or more subordinate offices in each county.
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
Yeats’ poem is his meditation on the Easter Rising, which saw Irish rebels declare an Irish Republic and then occupy Dublin’s General Post Office and other key buildings in the city.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
The GPO of this docudrama title refers to the General Post Office in Dublin, which was central to the 1916 Easter Rising of Irish Republicans against British rule.
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2021
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
“It is from the postmaster, London General Post Office, London. I hope they are not demanding payment for the extra volume of mail, tee hee!”
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
