an order for goods received or shipped through the mail.
the business of selling merchandise through the mail.
an order for merchandise sent by post
a system of buying and selling merchandise through the post
( as modifier )
a mail-order firm
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
First recorded in 1865–70
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rosalba worked in the accounting department of a mail order catalog company and later helped her husband run a mechanic shop in Granada Hills.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
In some cases, there is no coupon, and patients can purchase their medication from the drugmaker’s website “or through a limited set of mail order pharmacies,” according to TrumpRx.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 5, 2026
To determine whether a pharmacy service was mail order, in-person or another type, the analysis used the classification listed in the record of each prescription.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 27, 2025
The show follows Susan and Jenny who reminisce over clothes, boys and music - in a time where the height of technology and fashion were phone boxes, mail order catalogues and crispy pancakes.
From BBC • Nov. 27, 2024
Columbia was then — as it is now — one of the largest mail order clubs in the world, and Wunderman had handled the company’s advertising since it was formed in the 1950s.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
