poste restante
Americannoun
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a direction written on mail to indicate that it should be held at the post office until called for by the addressee.
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Chiefly British. a department in charge of such mail.
noun
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(not in the US and Canada) an address on mail indicating that it should be kept at a specified post office until collected by the addressee
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the mail-delivery service or post-office department that handles mail having this address
Etymology
Origin of poste restante
1760–70; < French: literally, standing post
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Leisurely two-sided correspondences were difficult to sustain, with Chatwin roving from one poste restante to the next.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2011
If you write, address to me here, poste restante, as I shall probably stay the winter over.
From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 3 With His Letters and Journals by Thomas Moore
Direct your answer by return to me, poste restante, Calais.
From Kenelm Chillingly — Complete by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
Evidently, however, she had heard that he was ailing, for she begs him to send her a few words, poste restante, to Aix-la-Chapelle, letting her know how he is.
From The Loves of Great Composers by Gustav Kobbé
When I showed my card to the poste restante clerk, he went carefully through the letters bearing the initial of my name and denied that there was any for me.
From Familiar Spanish Travels by William Dean Howells
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.
