Jump To:

• mailer
  mailer

  noun

  a person who mails or prepares material for mailing.
• Mailer
  Mailer

  noun

  Norman, 1923–2007, U.S. writer.

mailer

¹ American  

[mey-ler] / ˈmeɪ lər /

noun

1. a person who mails or prepares material for mailing.

2. a container, as a mailing tube or protective envelope, for mailing papers, books, merchandise, etc.

3. an advertising brochure, form letter, or the like, sent out in the mail.

4. mailing machine.

5. Archaic. a mailboat.

---

Mailer ² American  

[mey-ler] / ˈmeɪ lər /

noun

1. Norman, 1923–2007, U.S. writer.

---

mailer ¹ British  

/ ˈmeɪlə /

noun

1. a person who addresses or mails letters, etc

2. a machine used for stamping and addressing mail

3. a container for mailing things

---

Mailer ² British  

/ ˈmeɪlə /

noun

1. Norman. 1923–2007, US author. His works, which are frequently critical of modern American society, include the war novel The Naked and the Dead (1948), An American Dream (1965), his account of the 1967 peace march on Washington The Armies of the Night (1968), The Executioner's Song (1979), and Barbary Shore (1998)

---

Etymology

Origin of mailer

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; mail ¹ + -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mailer Mailer

Each month, they were sent a mailer promoting the “Selection of the Month,” and if the customer failed to return the rejection form, Columbia House would send them the new release and charge their account.

From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2026

A recent mailer offered a $300,000 term policy for a man his age at $170 a month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

There’s an asterisk on nearly every endorsement in the mailer, from city council to governor to judgeships to Measure CPT.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

The way I read this is that various parties paid for endorsements, but the mailer does not reveal who paid, or how much they ponied up.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

She comes back with a Sharpie and a postcard mailer for a Christmas tree lot.

From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour

One thinks of Norman Mailer in “The Naked and the Dead”: “they died for hills no one could have named, for objectives no one understood.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025

It sounds silly, but the Mailer rule is accurate at an astounding rate.

From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2024

For a final hearing, in July 1976, Wildes brought in Norman Mailer and Gloria Swanson, among others, to testify on Lennon’s behalf, and the INS granted the musician his green card.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2024

And some, like novelist Norman Mailer, who was at his best when filing real life dispatches from the political revolts and antiwar protests of the 1960s, worked to define the times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2023

Ave. “Y” where great thinkers like Norman Mailer and Seymour Krim are always airing their views.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

Related Words

• brochure
• handbill
• leaflet