mail bomb

American  

[meyl bom] / ˈmeɪl ˌbɒm /

noun

1. letter bomb.

2. Also email bomb a very large number of emails sent to a single email address or computer network, usually causing a server or system to crash.

---

verb (used with or without object)

1. Also mail-bomb to send a mail bomb to (an email address or computer network).

Etymology

Origin of mail bomb

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Vance — whose father-in-law, a federal judge, was murdered by a mail bomb in 1989 — said she empathized with the Arbery family.

From Washington Post • Feb. 3, 2022

A federal grand jury in New York on Friday returned a 30-count indictment against suspected mail bomb suspect mail bomber Cesar Sayoc.

From Washington Times • Nov. 9, 2018

The Times letter was "better written than those of some of my students," says James Hill, head of the Sacramento State chemistry department, whose name was in the return address on the 1993 mail bomb.

From Time Magazine Archive