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  

[may-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  

[may-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

Also in the fine print on the current mailer:

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

Judge Michael J. Truncale agreed with Exxon Mobil, concluding that the campaign mailer was “not within Bonta’s scope of employment.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026

Shiroma pays them $2 per packet, which cuts into her normal profit of $6.70 per mailer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026

A white FedEx mailer was sitting on my bunk.

From "Winger" by Andrew Smith

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 is difficult to think of any exception to the Mailer rule not named, “Richard Nixon.”

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

That week at school, Joaquin had turned the corner down the hallway toward his English class and come face-to-face with Birdie and Colin Mailer.

From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway

Related Words

• brochure
• handbill
• leaflet