post office
- an office or station of a government postal system at which mail is received and sorted, from which it is dispatched and distributed, and at which stamps are sold or other services rendered.
- (often initial capital letter) the department of a government charged with the transportation of mail.
- a game in which one player is designated “postmaster” or “postmistress” and calls another player of the opposite sex into an adjoining room, ostensibly to receive a letter but actually to receive a kiss.
Show More
Origin of post office
First recorded in 1625–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for post office
Contemporary Examples
Instead, the chamber found time to rename 60 post-office branches and attempted to repeal the health-care law for the 33rd time.
Historical Examples
He walked down to the post-office, and brought back a letter from the West.
The Little ColonelAnnie Fellows Johnston
He made a negro an assistant in a post-office where—think of it!
American NotesRudyard Kipling
"No, we 'ain't been so fur's the post-office," answered Mirandy, absently.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
Have the post-office people had news of the loss sent to them?
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
"The post-office must be to blame for this," observed Mr. Channing.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
Post Office
- a government department or authority in many countries responsible for postal services and often telecommunications
Show More
post office
- a building or room where postage stamps are sold and other postal business is conducted
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for post office
n.
1650s, "public department in charge of letter-carrying," from post (n.3) + office. Meaning "building where postal business is carried on" is from 1650s. In slang or euphemistic sense of "a sexual game" it refers to an actual parlor game first attested early 1850s in which pretend "letters" were paid for by kisses.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper