mail-order house

noun

a retail firm that conducts its business by receiving orders and shipping its merchandise through the mail and that supplies its customers with catalogs, circulars, etc.

Origin of mail-order house

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Describe the necessary routine in entering and filling orders in a mail-order house shipping all goods by express.
Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 1 | Various
We have in mind a certain mail order house that up to 1894 had things its own way.
Dollars and Sense | Col. Wm. C. Hunter
And I'm going to write for almond-meal and glycerin from the mail-order house to-morrow.
The Prairie Wife | Arthur Stringer
I also got a lot of small stuff I'd written for from the mail-order house, little feminine things a woman simply has to have.
The Prairie Wife | Arthur Stringer
One is unable to state whether John H. Harris is opening a mail order house, paper and marriage agency in the other world.
Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World | Clifton R. Wooldridge

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