| 释义 |
▪ I. post, n.1|pəʊst|
Also (4 pos), 5 poost, 5–7 poste, 7 poast.
[OE. post a post, pillar, door-post, ad. L. postis a post, door-post (in med.L. also a rod, pole, beam), whence also OHG. pfost (Ger. pfosten) post, beam, MLG., LG., MDu., Du. post door-post; also OF. post (12th c. in Godef.) (mod. dial. pôt) post, pillar, beam, by which prob. the OE. word was reinforced in ME.
(Dialectal plurals are posses, postès, postesses: see Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. and Eng. Dial. Dict.)]
I.
1. a. A stout piece of timber, or other solid material, of considerable length, and usually of cylindrical or square shape, used in a vertical position, esp. in building as a support for a superstructure.
c1000ælfric Saints' Lives xxvi. 226 He aheng þa þæt dust on ænne heahne post. c1000ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 164/32 Basis, post. c1205Lay. 28032 He bigon to hewene..and þa postes for-heou alle, þa heolden up þa halle. a1300Cursor M. 7258 Þe post þat al þat huse vpbare Wit bath his handes he it scok. 1340Ayenb. 180 Strang and stedeuest ase a pos ine his temple. c1440Promp. Parv. 410/2 Poost, of an howse, postis. 1563Golding Cæsar vii. (1565) 190 b, Greate postes of streight timber set on a row equally dystant a two fote space one from another. 1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. xxii, Not a Poste, nor a painted cloth in the house but cryes out, Feare God. 1725Watts Logic i. iv. §6 Post is equivocal, it is a piece of timber, or a swift messenger. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 262 If it be not convenient to allow the posts in partitions to be square, which is the best form.
1795Sporting Mag. V. 135 With what difficulty he gets through a crowd, or clears the postesses in the fields. 1833Marryat Peter S. iii, I inquired of the coachman which was the best inn. He answered ‘that it was the Blue Postesses, where the midshipmen leave their chestesses’.
†b. Formerly sometimes applied to a beam. Obs.
1567Golding Ovid x. 129 Shee ryseth, full in mynd To hang herself. About a post her girdle she doth bynd. 1589Rider Bibl. Schol. 1123 A post called the browe post, which is iust over the threshold: some call it a transome.
c. As a type of lifelessness, stupidity, ignorance, deafness, or hardness: cf. block n. 1 b.
between you and me and the post (or bed-post): as something that no one else is to hear or know; as a secret, in confidence.
c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4695 But welaway! as harde as is a post..ben hertes now! c1430Hymns Virg. (1867) 61 Good conscience, goo preche to þe post, Þi councel saueriþ not my tast. 1617R. Brathwait Drinking 80 Till they like Posts can neither speake nor goe. 1778F. Burney Evelina xxxiii, They..know no more than the post. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master Pref. 4 The fellow, stupid as a post, Believ'd in truth it was a ghost! 1832Lytton Eugene A. iv. i. 205 Between you and me and the bed-post, young master's quarrelled with old master. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. x, And between you and me and the post, sir, it will be a very nice portrait too. a1845Hood T. Trumpet iv, She was deaf as a post. 1873Mrs. Alexander Wooing o't iii. iv. 94 Between you and me and the post, I don't think they have much money.
2. a. A stake, stout pole, column, or the like, that is set upright in or on the ground, for various purposes; e.g. as a boundary mark, landmark, or monument, a stand for displaying public notices, a support for a fence, a point of attachment, etc.
poet of the post: ? one who exhibited his writings in public.
a1300St. Michael 149 in Treat. Sc., etc. (Wright) 135 If ther were nou a post heȝ [Laud. MS. an heiȝ stepel], and a man above sete, And me seȝe him smyte an heȝ gode duntes and grete. 1417Searchers Verdicts in Surtees Misc. (1888) 11 A party of the ferrest post of Robert of Feriby standys on Seint Leonard grunde. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 [They] shall..affix the same writing unto some post or other open place..in Lumberdstrete. 1640R. West in Ferrand Erotomania b vij, And sweare, like Poets of the Post, This Play Exceeds all Iohnsons Works. 1643Milton Soveraigne Salve 40 Like Posts of direction for Travellers. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 157 At all cross wayes there are posts with hands pointing to each road. Mod. The boundary is marked by a line of posts. The lane is barred by posts against riding or driving.
†b. Formerly set up by the door of a mayor, sheriff, or other magistrate. Obs.
1598Bp. Hall Sat. iv. ii. 21 Whose sonne more iustly of his gentry boasts Then who were borne at two pide painted posts; And had some traunting Merchant to his syre. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 157 Hee'l stand at your door like a Sheriffes post..but hee'l speake with you. 1618Owles Alm., Painters 57 My Lord Maiors posts must needs be trimmed against he takes his oath. 1632Rowley New Wonder i. 7 If e'r I live to see thee Shreiffe of London, I'l gild thy painted postes. 1845Parker Gloss. Archit. s.v., Posts, planted in the ground..were formerly placed at the sides of the doors of sheriffs and municipal authorities, probably to fix proclamations and other notices to.
3. With prefixed word indicating special purpose.
draw-post, a post used in wire fences, provided with winders for tightening the wires; foot-post, one of the posts at the foot of a four-post bedstead; kerb-post, a post set at the edge of a pavement; race-post, a starting-post or winning-post. See also bed-, clothes-, door-, gate-, goal-, king-, lamp-, sign-post n.; also direction-post (direction 11), reaching-post (reaching vbl. n.1), etc.
1643Milton Soveraigne Salve 40 Like race posts quickly to be run over. 1731W. Halfpenny Perspective 32 From B and E, raise the Head-posts to the Frame L and M, also draw the Foot-posts and Rails. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 378 One end being attached to the winder at one draw-post, the wire is extended to the adjoining draw-post, and fixed to its corresponding winder at that post. 1904Westm. Gaz. 25 Mar. 1/3 Four of the cannon..now fill the lowly if useful rôles of kerb-posts and lamp-posts.
4. Contextually for various specific kinds of posts.
a. A door-post or gate-post.
a1300Cursor M. 6077 On aiþer post þer hus to smer, A taken o tav [T or † ] on þair derner. 1382Wyclif Judg. xvi. 3 Sampson..took both leeues of the ȝate, with her postes and lok. ― Prov. viii. 34 Blisful the man..that waitith at the postis of my dore. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 3428 Sampson..the ȝates with the postis with hym bare he away. 1671Milton Samson 147 The Gates of Azza, Post, and massie Bar.
b. A whipping-post (?).
1624Heywood Captives v. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, They will spitt at us and doom us Unto the post and cart.
c. Racing. The post which marks the starting or finishing point; a starting-post or winning post. Also fig. Phr. first past the post, used attrib. and absol. to designate the electoral system whereby the candidate with the largest number of votes, or the party with the largest number of seats, wins an election; to pip on (or at) the post: see pip v.3 1 c.
1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xii. 181 A Fool and a Wiseman are alike both in the starting-place, their birth, and at the post, their death. 1678Butler Hud. iii. i. 898 A Race, In which both do their uttermost To get before, and win the Post. 1708Yorkshire-Racers 10 From diff'rent posts the various racers start. 1818C. Grenville Let. 19 Dec. (1920) 228 The 2nd Miss Morgan expects to marry Lord Rodney, if he does not again jib at the Post. 1885H. Smart (title) From Post to Finish. 1885Daily Tel. 19 Dec. 2/6 Some good horses mustered at the post. 1907Tribune 23 Mar. 10/5 The hurdles... The two men were together until almost the very last fence, and then Powell shot out and won on the post. 1921E. O'Neill Emperor Jones i. 161 Den de revolution is at de post. 1935‘N. Blake’ Question of Proof x. 197 ‘After all,’ he continued, ‘the Business-As-Usual slogan gets the British middle-class where they live—it has just the right combination of backs-to-the-wall bulldog courage and commercial savoir-faire. In this case it will leave its only rival—the respect-for-the-dead ballyhoo—at the post.’ 1949J. D. Carr Below Suspicion xvii. 208 ‘One of the things I like about you,’ commented Butler,..‘is the pellucid clarity of your style. Addison is nowhere. Macaulay is left at the post.’ 1952L. Overacker Austral. Party System viii. 221 At that time the ‘first past the post’ system of election was in use. 1958C. P. Snow Conscience of Rich v. 37 In strength of character we were about the same. In everything but natural gifts, he had so much start that I was left at the post. 1965Austral. Encycl. III. 367/1 In 1892, Queensland became the Australian pioneer of one of the chief improvements on first-past-the-post, namely the alternative or contingent vote. 1966Encycl. N.Z. I. 864/2 The..first-past-the-post electoral system. Under this system, which has been in operation for most of this century, minor parties are crushed. 1976Times 20 Aug. 13/1 The existing electoral system, based on the ‘first past the post’ principle which has shown itself to be so anomalous at Westminster.
d. Naut. The upright timber on which the rudder is hung; the stern-post; † hence transf. the stern of a ship (obs.).
body post, inner post: see quots. c 1850, 1867.
1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 22 Our ship calked from post to stem. 1682Sir J. Berry in Lond. Gaz. No. 1720/7 A terrible blow struck off the Rother, and, as was believed, struck out a blank nigh the Post. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 126 Inner Post, a piece of oak timber brought on and fayed to the fore-side of the main stern⁓post, for the purpose of seating the transoms upon it. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Body-post, an additional stern⁓post introduced at the fore-part of an aperture cut in the deadwood in a ship fitted with a screw-propeller.
e. A goal-post.
1867[see poster3]. 1878Chambers's Encycl. IV. 414/1 He will touch it down as near as he can to the goal, if possible between the posts. 1880Times 15 Mar. 6/5 For some little time after this the English kept play in close proximity to their rivals' posts, causing the goalkeeper some anxiety. 1900A. E. T. Watson Young Sportsman 284 Poster,..a place kick which..would have hit the posts produced upward and rebounded into the field of play. 1972G. Green Great Moments in Sport: Soccer xviii. 156 It ended with Nordahl turning Puis's chip to the near post against Wilson's upright, with the goalkeeper helpless. 1978Rugby World Apr. 7/3 The Scots would..have been awarded a penalty try.., with the conversion being taken from in front of the posts, instead of from the more difficult position farther out.
f. A leg of a chair. U.S.
1902W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 202 Something like a groan escaped Bishop's lips as he lowered the front posts of his chair to the floor.
†5. The door-post on which the reckoning at a tavern was kept; hence, the account or score. Obs.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 64 If I return I shall be post indeede. For she will scoure your fault vpon my pate. 1600–12Rowlands Four Knaves (Percy Soc.) 11 Score it up, when God sends coyne I will discharge your poast. 1604― Looke to it 39 You that for all your diet with your Hoast, Do set your hand in Chalke vnto his Poast.
II.
†6. fig. A support, prop, stay: = pillar 3.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 1000 That þow shalt be þe best post..Of al his lay. c1386― Prol. 214 Vn to his ordre he was a noble post. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 29 Ful ofte a wife is a broken poste. a1536Calisto & Melibæa (1905) 70 Now God be their guides! the posts of my life. 1579W. Wilkinson Confut. 46 b, H N. and his heyre Vitels, beyng great postes in his new-found Family.
III. Transferred uses.
7. a. A vertical mass or stack of stratified rock between two ‘joints’ or fissures.
1712Morton Nat. Hist. Northamptonshire 127 The continued Lines are the larger Perpendicular Fissures, there called Gulfe-Joints, and sometimes Damps. The Spaces inclos'd within them are the Posts or Stacks of Stone, that are thus severed from each other by means of those Gulfe-Joints. 1772in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 227 To feigh a post of stone at the said quarry.
b. Any thick compact stratum of sandstone or limestone.
1794W. Hutchinson Hist. Cumberld. II. 443 Each key is composed of a number of layers of stone, of a different thickness, which the workmen call posts. 1812R. Graham Agric. Surv. Stirling i. §5. 52 The stratum or post, as it is here called, of this quarry, is from 10 to 15 feet thick. 1876Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. v. 92 The term post is frequently applied to express a thick uniform-grained stratum of sand⁓stone. 1887H. Miller Geol. Otterburn & Elsdon iii. 10 A number of limestone bands, or ‘posts’, will be found at the head of Sills Burn.
c. Also post-stone: Sandstone of a fine grain.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) V. 93/2 Of Post-stone. This is a free stone of the hardest kind..of a very fine texture..and when broken appears as if composed of the finest sand... Red post is generally of a dull red colour. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Post,..2. Sandstone (fine-grained).
d. A vertical mass or pillar of coal in a mine, left uncut to support the roof of the working. post and stall: = pillar and stall: see pillar n. 7.
1811Farey Agric. Derbyshire I. 188 The method of posts and stalls, or leaving large pillars and excavating chambers between them, is resorted to. 1839Ure Dict. Arts, etc. 979 In the post and stall system, each man has his own room, and performs all the labour in it. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Post, i. A solid block or pillar of coal.
¶ In Paper-making: see post n.5 1.
IV.
8. Phrases.
a. post and paling: see quot. b. post and pan: applied to a building or mode of construction in which the walls are formed of a framework of beams with the spaces filled in with brickwork, plaster, or the like; also called locally post and panel (Eng. Dial. Dict.), petrail, plaster, tan. c. post and railing: see quot. 1823 and post and rail. d. from post to pillar: see pillar n. 11. † e. to go to the post: = to go to the wall. f. to kiss the post (see kiss v. 6 h): to be shut out or disappointed. g. to make a hack in the post: to use up or consume a considerable part of something, to ‘make a hole in’. h. to run one's head against a post: in fig. use. i. on the right or the wrong side of the post, etc. (referring to posts marking the right course); hence fig. j. post and beam: applied to a mode of construction in which the framework consists of upright and horizontal beams.
a.1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 590 Post and Paling, a close wooden fence, constructed of posts set into the ground and pales nailed to rails between them.
b.1517Nottingham Rec. III. 140 Unam domum de postis and pannes. 1788W. Marshall Yorksh. II. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Post-and-pan, old half-timber buildings are said to be post-and-pan. 1842–76Gwilt Archit. (ed. 7) Gloss. s.v. Pan, Called post and pan, or post and petrail work, in the north of England. 1867Harland & Wilkinson Lanc. Folk-Lore 263 A dwelling..of clay and wood, what is called post and petrel. 1890Blackw. Mag. Oct. 462 Their ‘post and tan’ cottages have passed away. 1900Daily News 26 Jan. 7/1 We may see the gabled post-and plaster house, of which the older part is late fifteenth-century work. 1954S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures Brit. Isles vi. 163 With the façade formed by orthostats ascending in height to the portals and originally linked by dry-stone walling in a ‘post and panel’ technique. 1975Country Life 6 Feb. 319/3 Black and white timber and plaster work of the post-and-pan variety.
c.1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 590 Post and Railing, an open wooden fence, consisting of posts and rails only.
e.a1624Bp. M. Smith Serm. (1632) 118 Antichrist had no sooner gotten to high strength..but the faithfull went to the post, and wandered vp and downe.
f.c1515–1681 [see kiss v. 6 h]. a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 710 Troylus also hath lost On her moch loue and cost, And now must kys the post. c1550R. Bieston Bayte Fortune B iij, The Church they despoyle, the poore the poste may kis. 1607Dekker Knt.'s Conjur. (1842) 63 The vsurer looking as hungrilie as if he had kist the post.
g.1842J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 244, {pstlg}25 or {pstlg}30 paid all at once for one horse makes a sad hack in the post, and cannot well be spared by a minister, unless he has a nest-egg in the bank.
h.1805T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (1806) I. 38 You have run your head against a post, as the saying is.
i.1792–5Aikin & Barbauld Even. at Home xxiii, At length,..Young Peer [race-horse] ran on the wrong side of the post, was distanced, and the Squire ruined. 1803M. Charlton Wife & Mistress IV. 94 On the right side of the Post. a1814Fam. Politics iii. iv. in New Brit. Theatre II. 224, I find I am on the wrong side of the post; I must flatter a little. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xx, Still, Tony, you were on the wrong side of the post then. 1858Trollope Dr. Thorne (Tauchn.) II. i. 12 Though they may possibly go astray, they have a fair chance given to them of running within the posts. 1861― Framley P. (Tauchn.) II. xxiii. 340 He had bolted from his appointed course, going terribly on the wrong side of the posts.
j.1958Listener 25 Sept. 459/1 The other structural method is the application of the simple post-and-beam technique to form a framed structure similar to that obtained by steel or reinforced concrete. 1978N.Y. Times 30 Mar. c 8/2 The designer, Donald Davidson, assembled cedar slats post-and-beam style to make an armchair.
V.
9. attrib. and Comb., as post-betting (4 c), post-foot, -postmaker; applied to implements for drawing, pulling up, or making a hole in the ground for, a post, as post-auger, post-driver, post-jack, post-puller; also to things fixed or mounted on a post, as post-box, post-dial, post-drill, post-pump, post-windlass; post-legged, post-like adjs.; † postband, ? a band in a panelled ceiling: = laquear 1; post-bird, post-butt: see quots.; post cedar, the white or incense cedar, Libocedrus decurrens; post-driver, (a) an implement for driving in posts or piles, a pile-driver; (b) the American bittern, the stake-driver; post-line, an elevated railway line (Cent. Dict.); † post-metal, the metal-work connecting a door with its post; post-mill, a windmill pivoted on a post, so as to be turned round to catch the wind; post-painter, a signpost-painter; post-pocket, an iron socket fixed on the outside of a railway car to receive a post; post quintain, a stake or post used as a quintain: = pel; post-retained crown Dentistry = post crown; post-sitter Austral. = post-boy 3; post time N. Amer., the starting time for a horse-race; post-windmill = post-mill; † post-writing, writing on a door-post: cf. Deut. vi. 9, 24. See also post alone, post-hole, post-knight, etc.
1868Rep. U.S. Commiss. Agric. (1869) 354 Its practicability can..be ascertained by digging a well, or by boring with a pile or *post auger.
c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 667/19 Hoc laquear, *postband. c1475Pict. Voc. ibid. 778/7 Hoc laquiare, postbondde.
1894Westm. Gaz. 10 Apr. 7/2 It is evident that the City and Suburban will this year be a *post-betting race.
1882Science Gossip XVIII. 65/1 Local Names.—(Kent)..Spotted Flycatcher..‘*Post bird’; from its habit of perching on a post, watching for flies.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Post Box, a shafting box attached to a post.
1875― Dict. Mech., *Post-butt, a block inserted in the ground and having a socket to hold a post.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. civ, *Post and Pocket Dials for any Latitude.
1546Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) II. 223 Payd for a *poste fote standyng of the grounde of Robert Wodemansey, iiijd.
1608R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1880) 48 He was gouty, bigge, *poste legged, and of yeeres something many.
1845Thoreau Jrnl. 14 July in Writings (1906) VII. 365 A woodchopper, a *post-maker.
1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 59 Pyrrhus..Downe beats with pealing thee doors, and *post metal heaueth.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 122 To effect this [i.e. bringing the sails to the wind] two methods are in general use: the one called the *post-mill; the other the smock-mill. 1934Archit. Rev. LXXVI. 165/3 The Post mill is the earliest known form of mill. The structure is box-like in shape and carries the machinery and the sails. Supporting this structure is a single upright post on which the mill revolves. 1968J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 169 The oldest mills, those in existence at the time of the Domesday book, were all post-mills. 1974C. Taylor Fieldwork in Medieval Archaeol. 12 The circular mound on a hilltop may be a Bronze Age barrow, or it may be the base of a medieval post-mill, or it may be both.
1752Foote Taste i. i, Why, thou *Post-painter, thou Dauber, thou execrable White-washer.
1801Strutt Sports & Past. iii. i. §3 (1876) 186 The exercise of the pel, or *post quintain, which is spoken of at large by Vegetius.
1963C. R. Cowell et al. Inlays, Crowns, & Bridges viii. 84 A *post-retained crown is commonly indicated for a root-filled anterior tooth the natural crown of which has become discoloured. 1974C. L. Sturridge in Harty & Roberts Restorative Procedures Practising Dentist ix. 141 In the front of the mouth a post-retained crown will be the treatment of choice if the tooth is non-vital.
1901A. J. Campbell Nests & Eggs Austral. Birds I. 106. The Brown Flycatcher or ‘*Post Sitter’..begins to breed [in] September or October. 1911, etc. Post-sitter [see post-boy 3].
1941Sun (Baltimore) 30 Aug. 13/1 Everything is in readiness for the opening of business about an hour before *post time tomorrow. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 42/1 (Advt.), Post time 7:45.
1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Post Windlass, a winding machine which is actuated with breaks or handspikes.
1931Times Educ. Suppl. 19 Dec. (Home & Classroom Suppl.) p.iv/2 A Cambridgeshire *post-windmill..revolves in an artificial breeze to show wind-power. 1974C. Taylor Fieldwork in Medieval Archaeol. vi. 119 A circular mound, discovered on the ground or from air photographs, can be proved to have been the site of a post-windmill if an old estate map depicts a windmill there.
1621Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. Deut. vi. 9 Whosoever hath his phylacteries on his head and on his arme,..and *post-writing on his doore, he is fortified.
▪ II. post, n.2|pəʊst|
Also 6–7 poste, poast, 6 Sc. poist.
[a. F. poste (1477 in Godef.), in the same senses as in Eng., ad. It. posta, orig. the same word as posta, F. poste station, stand, late L. or Rom. posta n. from postus (Lucretius) = positus, pa. pple. of pōnĕre to place. From It. also Sp., Pg. posta; from Fr. (app.), Du., Ger., Da., Sw. post. See Note below.]
I.
†1. From the beginning of the 16th c., applied to men with horses stationed or appointed in places at suitable distances along the post-roads (see post-stage), the duty of each being to ride with, or forward with all speed to the next stage, the king's ‘packet’, and at length the letters of other persons, as well as to furnish change of horses to ‘thorough-posts’ or express messengers riding post. to lay posts, to establish a chain of such ‘posts’ along a route for the speedy forwarding of dispatches.
Posts were at first ‘laid’ temporarily only, when occasion demanded direct communication with a distant point; they were at length established permanently along certain routes. These ‘posts’ began in the 17th c. to be called ‘postmasters’ (q.v.), and were the precursors of the present local postmasters, or persons in charge of the local post offices, who receive and dispatch the local mails. In the 16th and 17th c., these ‘posts’ had also usually the exclusive privilege of furnishing post-horses to ordinary travellers, and of conducting the business of a posting establishment, which has since been separated from that of the Post Office.
1506Exch. T.R. Miscell. Bks. 214, (19 Mar.) 46 To Gilbert Burgh one post lying at Bagshote, Thomas Anesley an other post lying at Basyngstoke [and so on, seven more to Exeter]. Ibid. (24 Apr.) 56 To the 9 posts lying betwext Bagshote and Excetour..to William Okeley riding to every of the said postes to see the ordring of them... To John Heyther..riding with letters to the postes lying at London. 1533Tuke Let. to Cromwell in St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 404 The Kinges pleasure is, that postes be better appointed, and laide in al places most expedient. Ibid. 405, I never used other ordre but to charge the townshippes to lay and appoint such a post, as they will answer for. 1536R. Sampson Let. to Cromwell Oct., To cause Mr. Tuke diligently to lay his posts betwixt his Grace and my Lord of Suffolk, to my Lord Steward from Huntingdon, also to Ampthill, and from the North to the King. 1547Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 73 That the saidis personis..have post horsis ilk ane of thame for thair awin part, at the bailis forsaidis, to await apoun the incuming of our saidis inemeis, and the samin postis to depart fra the baile of Sanctabbis heid to the Lard of Rastalrig [etc.]. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 37 b, [1513–14] The erle of Surrey..layed Postes euery waye, whiche Postes stretched to the marches of Wales to the counsayll there, by reason whereof, he had knowlege what was done in euery coste. 1572in Rep. Secret Comm. on P.O. (1844) 34 For the wages of the ordinarie postes laide betwene London and Barwicke and elles where within hir Maiesties Realme of Englande. 1598Ibid. 37 That..you take order forthwith for the speedie appointinge and layinge of the standinge and ordinarie postes againe,..betweene the Courte and Hollyheade. 1603Ibid. 39 That in all places where Posts are layde for the packet, they also, as persons most fit, shall have the benefit and preheminence of letting, furnishing, and appointing of horses to all riding in poste. 1603Orders for the Posts ibid. 40 Every Post, so receiving our packets,..shall, within one quarter of an houre at the most after they come to his handes, dispatch them away in Post, and shall runne there⁓with in sommer..after seven miles the houre. 1609Orders for the Pacquet ibid. 42 All pacquets or letters..shall bee carried by the Postes in poste from stage to stage onely, and not otherwise nor further. 1609Orders for the thorough Postes ibid. 42 The horsing of al through-posts, and persons riding in poste with horne or guide,..shall be performed by our standing Postes in their several stages; who..shall..have in a readinesse..a sufficient number of poste-horses. 1628Ibid. 52 The humble petition of all the Posts of England, being in nomber 99 poore men. [Cf. postmaster1 1 b quot. 1659.]
2. a. One who travels express with letters, messages, etc., esp. on a fixed route; orig. a courier, a post-rider (now chiefly Hist.); a letter-carrier, a postman (now chiefly dial.).
Applied in early times to special messengers or couriers bearing dispatches (thorough posts), as well as to those who carried them from stage to stage (standing posts: see 1). Still applied locally to a postman, who carries the mail in a vehicle, on horseback, or on foot (foot-post) between a principal post office and the various branch offices; sometimes also to a letter-carrier who delivers letters in a town or rural district.
1507Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 78 To the French post quhilk com heir xxviii li. 1507[see 8 h]. 1513[see 8 b; postmaster 1 a]. 1533Tuke Let. to Cromwell in St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 405 As to postes bitwene London and the Courte, there be nowe but 2; wherof the on is a good robust felowe. [Ibid. passim.] 1537Cromwell in Life & Lett. (1902) II. 110 Yt was thought meate that a post shulde be dyspaccheyd with dylygence. 1548Flieng postes [see flying ppl. a. 4 b]. 1563Foxe A. & M. 775 The prouerb sayth, that postes do bere truth in ther letters, and lyes in there mouthes. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, Induct. 37 The Postes come tyring on, And not a man of them brings other newes. 1612J. More in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 128 The post Diston is now scarce passed Gravesend with the King's packet. 1619Sir I. Wake Let. in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 142 The ordinary posts do come so slowly that I cannot expect by them anie answere of this letter in two months and more, which would be to much time. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 27 Who deliuered it to the Poste which comes weekely from London to S. Omers. a1639Wotton Parallel in Reliq. (1651) 14 A Post came crossing by, and blew his Horn. 1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 195 The Post presented her with a Letter. 1765in E. E. Atwater Hist. New Haven (1887) 216 A special post is appointed to carry it [Gazette] out of the common post⁓roads. 1823Cooper Pioneers xix, The man who carried the mail, or ‘the post’, as he was called. 1832Macaulay Armada 14 With loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a post. 1899Westm. Gaz. 15 Apr. 8/1 In early life he became post and driver of the mails, and was able to recall many interesting stories.
b. Applied to similar bearers of messages or letters in ancient times or far-off lands.
1535Coverdale 2 Chron. xxx. 6 The postes [Wyclif curours] wente with the letters from the hande of the kynge and of his rulers thorow out all Israell and Iuda, at y⊇ kynges commaundement. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa viii. 321 [They] were the Soldans foote-postes that carried letters from Cairo into Syria, and trauelled on foote three⁓score miles a day. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 253 That gallant race of swift Horses among the Veneti: upon these ride the posts, carrying the letters of Kings and Emperors to the appointed places. 1611Bible Job ix. 25 Now my days are swifter than a post. 1734tr. Rollin's Roman Hist. (1827) II. 369 Posts and couriers. This invention is ascribed to Cyrus.
c. transf. and fig.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. xcv. iv, Twise twenty times my post the sun His yearly race to end had run. 1648Boyle Seraph. Love (1660) 57 His swift Posts the Angels, when sent on Errands to us here on Earth. c1673Traherne Poet. Wks. (1906) 123 Thoughts are the priveleged posts that soar Unto His throne.
3. A vehicle or vessel used in the conveyance of the mails; a mail-coach or -cart; † a packet-boat. † Also, in early use, a post-horse. ? Obs. (or merged in 4, to which quots. 1785, 1848 may belong; quot. 1904 refers to Switzerland).
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 40, I haue fowndred nine score and odde Postes. 1635J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 75 The poasts and vessels of intelligence..going and coming incessantly. 1684–5Depos. Castle York (Surtees) 268 ‘Neighbour, did you heare the post of last night?’ ‘Yes, I heard and saw it, but what is the newes, neighbour?’ 1707Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. iii. (ed. 22) 443 The Posts in some Foreign Countries make not more Miles in a Day. 1785Crabbe Newspaper 283 That day arrives; no welcome post appears. 1848Dickens Dombey xxii, The post had come in heavy that morning. 1904Westm. Gaz. 23 July 4/1 It is the yellow ‘post’, drawn by five horses, and bound for the tops.
4. A single dispatch of letters (and other postal matter) from or to a place; also concretely, the letters, etc. collectively, as dispatched or conveyed, with that which carries them; the mail. Also colloq. the portion of a mail cleared from a receiving-house or pillar-box, or delivered at one house: e.g. ‘The post had gone from our pillar-box’; ‘I had a heavy post on Christmas morning’.
(In many of the following instances ‘the post’ may still have meant the bearer as in 2, or the conveyance as in 3.)
a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. §144 There were several Letters prepared, and made up with the dates proper for many Posts to come. 1675Earl of Essex Lett. (1770) 349 The post being just going, I can say no more. 1683H. Prideaux in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 184 Your letters, which came hither by the last nights post. 1711Addison Spect. No. 127 ⁋1 It is our Custom.., upon the coming in of the Post, to sit about a Pot of Coffee, and hear the old Knight read Dyer's Letter. a1715Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 444 The news of this must have been writ from London on the Saturday night's post. Ibid. (1766) II. 30 The state of foreign affairs varied every post. 1801Pitt in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 429, I have but a moment to save the post. 1830Marryat King's Own xiv, A sharp double tap at the street-door announced the post. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 257 The post did not arrive early at Skerndale. Mod. How many posts have you in the day here?
5. a. The official organization or agency for the collection, transmission, and distribution of letters and other postal matter (= post office 1); the official conveyance of letters, books, parcels, etc. Cf. general post, penny post. Hence book-post, parcel-post, the departments of this organization which carry books and parcels.
The phrases by post, per post, etc., may have begun with earlier senses: cf. 8 b.
1663Pepys Diary 14 Mar., So to write by the post, and so home to supper. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiii. §165 He sent it by the Post to the States. 1684Ray Corr. (1848) 138, I received [your letter] by post, with the plants enclosed. 1707Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. iii. (ed. 22) 444 There is establish'd another Post, called the Penny-Post, whereby..any Letter or Parcel..is..conveyed to, and from Parts..not conveniently served by the General-Post. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 621 Nor have [I] sent advice with the needful per post. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. II. 58 The perpetual intercourse between the court and the provinces was facilitated by the construction of roads and the institution of posts. 1812Shelley Let. to Hookham 17 Dec., You will receive the ‘Biblical Extracts’..by the twopenny post. 1885Act 48 Vict. c. 15 Sched. iii. Precept §11 If a letter is addressed to him by post. 1903Daily Chron. 4 Mar. 9/5 A resolution..urging the establishment of a ‘goods post’ as a branch of the Post Office.
b. = post office 2; also, the postal letter-box; e.g. ‘to go to the post’, ‘to take a letter to the post’.
1785J. Woodforde Diary 11 Nov. (1926) II. 214, I..put it [sc. a letter] into the Post myself. 1808R. C. Dallas in Corr. Ld. Byron (1825) I. 9 If I were sure your Lordship is better pleased with its [the letter's] being put into the post than into the fire. 1835Dickens Let. 4 May (1965) I. 60, I am in great haste having scarce time to get this letter in the Post. 1848Clough Bothie ix, Great at that Highland post was wonder too and conjecture. 1886Field 23 Jan. 91/1 Scarcely had last week's letter been dropped into the post. 1887W. B. Yeats Lett. (1954) 54, I must finish to catch the post. 1921G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah ii. 40 Excuse me, sir; but the letters must go to catch the post.
†6. contextually. The charge for the carriage of letters; postage. Obs.
1688Burnet Lett. conc. Pres. St. Italy 95 Some give out, that the Post of the Letters, that were brought him the day in which he was seised on, rose to twenty Crowns. 1701E. Hatton Merch. Mag. (title-p.), The Post of Letters to and from Foreign Countries. 1705Lond. Gaz. No. 4105/3 For the Post of every single Letter from England to the said Islands not exceeding one Sheet of Paper, 1s. 3d.
II.
7. One of a series of stations where post-horses are kept for relays; a posting-house; also, the distance between two successive posting-houses; a stage. (So poste in mod.F.)
a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Poems 133 The Sun..Times Dispensator,..Through Skies twelve Posts as he doth run his course. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 50 (Amiens) 'Twill scarce be ten posts out of my way. 1779J. Moore View Soc. Fr. II. lii. 29 The ground is quite covered with snow, the roads bad, and the posts long. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho vi, They were obliged to proceed to the next post. 1809N. Pinkney Trav. France 39 A post in France is six miles, and one shilling and threepence is charged for each horse.
III. 8. Phrases and senses arising out of them. †a. at (the) post: = in post (see d). Obs.
1507Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 412 To Johne Dunlop to pas our the Month to bide at post before the King. 1533Ibid. VI. 131 To pas with diligence at the poist all the nycht with secret writingis fra the lordis.
b. by post: † orig. by posting; by courier; with relays of post-horses (obs.); in current use, by the medium of the public postal service, through the post office: see sense 5.
1513Sir E. Howard in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 148 For Godds sake sende by post all along the coste that they brew bere, and make bisket. 1513Q. Catherine ibid. 152 Maister Almoner I receyved your Lettre by the post, Wherby I understande of the commyng hider of the Duc. 1527Gardiner in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. xxxix. 75 Passing from hence by post. 1545St. Papers Hen. VIII, V. 496 We doubte not Your Lordship will take ordre for his passage by post, as apperteyneth. 1598R. Barckley Felic. Man i. (1603) 15 When he was far from the sea, then hee would eate nothing but fish brought alive by post with an excessive charge. 1652T. Froysell Gale Opportunity 20 Letters were sent by post into all the Kings Provinces, to destroy, to kill and to cause to perish all Jewes both young and old. 1663–1885 [see 5].
c. by return of post (F. par retour du courrier): † orig. by return of the ‘post’ or courier who brought the dispatch (obs.); now, by the next mail in the opposite direction.
[1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 85 The Burrough Masters..receiued letters from his Excellencie by the Poste, who was foorthwith sent backe.] 1737Col. Rec. Pennsylv. IV. 223 Had this Government been pleased to have answered the last letter..by the return of the Post who brought it. 1789J. Woodforde Dairy 3 July (1927) III. 118 Received a Letter..desiring an answer by return of Post. 1792F. Burney Jrnl. Aug. (1972) I. 225, I wrote her my good wishes, which she answered by return of post. 1809R. Langford Introd. Trade 95, I beg you will freely tell me by return of post. 1980Alexander & Anand Queen Victoria's Maharajah x. 183 The Maharajah replied by return of post.
†d. in post (= F. en poste (a 1500 in Littré), It. in posta), in the manner or capacity of a courier or bearer of dispatches, as a post; hence, at express speed, in haste: (a) originally qualifying ride, go, come, send, dispatch, and the like; (b) at length with verbs generally, and in fig. uses; whence post becomes = haste, full speed: see post adv. Obs.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxv. [clxi.] 457 Thus these four rode night and day..; they chaunged many horses; thus they rode in post. Ibid. ccxl. [ccxxxvi.] 741 Than the bysshoppe of Caunterbury wrote letters..and sente them by a suffycyent man in post, who toke fresshe horses by the waye, and came to London the same daye at night. [1536St. Papers Hen. VIII, V. 52, I shulde abyde the retourne of the messanger, whom my Lorde and I sent by enposte.] 1569Satir. Poems Reform. x. 208 To Dunbar that nycht scho raid in haist Behind ane man in poist, as scho war chaist. 1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 385 He was able in three days to ride in such post, as was to be wondred. 1583T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 1 b, Glymes was sent with..about sixe hundred Horse in poste to surprize the Spanyardes. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. iv. x. (1622) 105 A pesant of Temerstine..killed him with one stroke; then fled in post to the woods. a1604Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1809) 338 Sir Iohn de Courcy..sent letters in post to his brother Sir Amorick Saint Laurence. 1670Milton Hist. Brit. ii. Wks. 1738 II. 17 Horsemen all in post from Quintus Atrius bring word to Cæsar, that almost all his Ships in a Tempest that Night had suffer'd wreck. 1711Royal Proclam. 23 June in Lond. Gaz. No. 4866/2 If the Post⁓master doth not..furnish any Person riding in Post, with..Horses. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 426/2 He is said to travel post, or in post, i.e. in the manner of a post.
†e. with post: with speed or dispatch; cf. d.
1569T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. ii. xiv. 59 The inhabitaunts..with all possible post sent certain of their men upon Dromadaries.
† f. to make the post: to provide for the transmission of the mail; to supply horses or mounted riders to convey the mail over one stage. Obs.
1547Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 74 The said Capitane of Dunbar to mak the post to the said Priores of Northberwik..; and the said Priores to mak the post to the said Patrik Erle Boithuell.
g. to ride post = to ride in post (d): see post adv.
†h. to run the post (= F. courir la poste, It. correre in posta): to run or ride as a ‘post’ or courier; to carry the mail. Cf. post-runner.
1507Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 82 To Alexander Gordoun yeman of the stable his wage quhilk he wanted quhen the King was at the Month, and ran the post xxviiis. 1533Ibid. VI. 154 For ij hors for him and his servand to ryn the post to Cauldstreme.
†i. to take post: to start on a journey with post-horses; to travel as quickly as possible by means of relays of horses. Obs.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. i. 21, I saw her laid low in her kindreds Vault, And presently tooke Poste to tell it you. 1666Pepys Diary 4 June, They..took post about three this morning. 1714Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Mr. W. Montagu 9 Aug., This morning all the principal men of any figure took post for London.
IV. Transferred applications.
9. A frequent title of newspapers.
1681(title) The London Post. 1708(title) The Flying Post (Edinburgh). 1772(title) The Morning Post (London). [See Evening Post, 13 Jan. 1888, 1/4.]
10. A parlour game; short for General Post (general a. 2 b (b)). Varieties are known as American Post, Glasgow Post, etc.
1868Holme Lee B. Godfrey xxxvi, Everybody was willing..to engage in ‘Post’ or ‘Slappy’. 1887L. Oliphant Episodes (1888) 290 It became quite an interesting amusement to dodge about, not unlike the game of ‘post’.
11. orig. post-paper: A size of writing-paper, the half-sheet of which when folded forms the ordinary quarto letter-paper; see quot. 1875. Also attrib.
1648Hexham Dutch Dict., Post-pampier, post-paper. 1678Ibid., Post-papier, post-paper or Venus paper. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §40 Though the separation was only by the thickness of a piece of post-paper. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1773/2 Post paper is seldom sold in the folio, that is, flat, but is cut in halves, folded, and forms quarto post, or common letter-paper.
1711Act 10 Anne c. 18 §37 [c. 19 §32] For and upon all Paper usually called or knowne by the Name of Fine Large Post which shall be imported or brought in as aforesaid, the Summe of Two Shillings and Six Pence for every Reame. 1827Mackenzie Hist. Newcastle II. 727 note, Mr. White printed ‘The Life of God in the Soul of Man’ on a writing post 18mo. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xviii, Another book, in three volumes, post octavo. c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. 153/2 The plain Bath or satin post may be employed. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Post... A size of writing-paper, so called because its original water-mark was a postman's horn. Twelve varieties of post paper are made in England, of three sizes..221/4 × 171/4 [to] 19 × 151/4 inches.
V. attrib. and Comb.
12. a. Simple attributive: Of or pertaining to the post, as post clerk, post dues, post route, post service; b. employed in conveying the mails, or in the public conveyance of travellers by stages, as post-ass (cf. post-horse), post-calash, post-caroche, post-carriage, post-carrier, post-courier, post-diligence, post-driver, post-equipage, post-felucca, post-gig, post-girl, post-hackney, post-landaulet, post-mule, post-nag, post-omnibus, post-packet, post-van, post-vehicle; c. belonging to a postal station or to a posting establishment, as post-hut, post-shed, post-yard; d. of or pertaining to a post-road or posting route, as post-mile; e. indicating the time at which the mail leaves or arrives, as post-day, post-hour, post-morning, post-time; † f. characterized by haste or speed like that of a post, as post-business, post-expedition, post-pace, post-speed: see also post-haste; g. conveyed by post, as post-parcel, post-tidings.
1696tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant v. 42 At my departure from Lions I hir'd a *Post-Ass.
1613Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb iv. vi, What should this fellow be... That comes with such *post business?..Are you the post, my friend?
1703Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 358 Returning home by the way of Italy [they] were unhappily drowned in a *post calash.
1627Drayton Moon Calf 296 Being to travel, he sticks not to lay His *post-caroches still upon his way.
1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xix. II. 135 While the Cæsar himself, with only ten *post-carriages, should hasten to the Imperial residence at Milan. 1872Argosy XIV. 208 There was no railroad then. The ladies and the girls crammed themselves into a post-carriage from the Star.
1855Englishwoman in Russia 45 Our yemstchich had been a soldier..; but.. had turned *post-driver.
1859Jephson Brittany ix. 133 The driver..had forgotten to pay the *post-dues.
1813A. Bruce Life A. Morris iii. 57 The *post-equipage was ready.
1601Chester Love's Mart., Answ. Howell 10 With all *post expedition, You will prepare a voyage vnto Rome.
1850C. M. Yonge Henrietta's Wish v. 55 The *post girl could take the jelly. 1944Coast to Coast 1943 112 Living only for the next time the postgirl's whistle sent its shrill stab through her nerves. 1977‘J. Gash’ Judas Pair ix. 113 There were a couple of letters..on the doormat, so the post girl had called.
1666Wallis in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 467 The *post hour approaching allows me not time.
1753Hanway Trav. (1762) I. ii. xv. 65 The *post huts on the step could not always supply us with a sufficient number of horses.
1737J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. i. iii. (ed. 33) 10 The Shire Town is Dorchester..112 *Post Miles from London. 1758J. Blake Plan Mar. Syst. 30 At the rate of fifteen post⁓miles each day.
1762Sterne Tr. Shandy VI. xxii, On a *post-morning.
1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark xiii, 117 At Pucara I left post-houses and *post-mules behind me, for they exist only on the main roads.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 42 In *poste pase we past from potage to cheese.
1819Keats Let. 12 Mar. (1958) II. 71 The sail of the *Post-Packet to New York or Philadelphia.
1773H. Finlay Jrnl. (1867) 1 The *post route by lake Champlain was tedious. 1884Act of Congress 1 Mar. in U.S. Stat. (1885) XXIII. 3 All public roads and highways while kept up and maintained as such are hereby declared to be post routes.
1904W. M. Ramsay Lett. to Seven Ch. xv. 192 No writer gives an account of the Imperial *Post-Service.
1812Sir R. Wilson Pr. Diary I. 141 We came to the next *post-shed, and found all flown, so that we were obliged to proceed with the same horses.
1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. x. 25 Many overhasty widows..make *post speed to a second marriage.
1628Brittain's Ida v. vi, Fearefull blood From heart and face, with these *post-tydings runne.
1772J. Wedgwood Let. 1 Sept. (1965) 133, I have been so long in these and other particulars this morning that *post time is at hand. 1836F. Witts Diary 14 July (1978) 117 B., as usual, not appearing till nearly the luncheon hour and at post time, when I received a joint letter from my wife and Edward. 1845Macaulay in Trevelyan Life (1876) II. 164, I was detained till after post-time.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. v, National Convention packs them into *post-vehicles and conveyances.
1848Dickens Dombey lv, Of town and country, *postyards, horses.
13. Special Combs.: † post-angel, an angel who is sent post, a swift angelic messenger; post-box, (a) a box in which letters are posted or deposited for dispatch, a letter-box; (b) a box to which post-office mail, newspapers, etc., are delivered; (c) any box where papers, etc., are left for collection; post-bus, a post-office vehicle which also carries passengers; also attrib.; post-lady = post-woman; post-letter, a letter sent through the Post Office; post-like a., resembling a or the post; in quot., rapid or swift in passing; post money, expense of travelling by post; post-paid a., having the postage prepaid; also fig.; post-paper (see sense 11); post-rider, one who rides post; a mounted letter-carrier; post-village, a village where there is a post office; post-warrant, a warrant entitling a person travelling by post to accommodation, etc.; post-woman, a female letter-carrier; post-worthy a., (a) of a letter: worth posting; (b) of a place: worthy to have a post office. See also post-bag, -bark, etc.
1663Cowley Hymn to Light vi, Let a *Post-Angel start with Thee, And thou the Goal of Earth shalt reach as soon as He.
1754Miss Boothby in Life Johnson (1805) 58 The servant put my letter into the *post-box himself. 1954J. Collin-Smith Scorpion on Stone ii. 42, I say! I've been to the post-box. My papers have come. 1955Times 3 May 5/4 Posting the letters at different post-boxes on the way. 1960G. Martelli Agent Extraordinary v. 85 The réseau was entirely self-sufficient... There were no parachute drops, no wireless transmitters, no system of internal couriers or ‘post-boxes’. 1963Times 18 May 8/5 There were four other explosions in Westmount and one in the suburb of Pointe aux Trembles during the night, all in post boxes. 1964L. Linton Of Days & Driftwood iv. 27 The car was ready and able to take us beyond the post box for the first time in many days. 1968‘S. Jay’ Sleepers can Kill xv. 149 It's a post-box. The agents can deliver reports there, someone picks them up and sends them on. 1978G. Greene Human Factor III. iii. 126 Muller was on his own in a strange town, in a foreign land, where the post boxes bore the initials of a sovereign E II.
1960Guardian 22 Feb. 6/4 Trains connect with *post-bus services. 1968A. Marin Clash of Distant Thunder (1969) x. 80 ‘How did you get to Geneva?’.. ‘By post bus from Bourg,’ I said. 1972Times 24 Oct. 5/4 Crundale, Kent... At 6 am the new Royal Mail Post bus began its morning run.
1975Scottish Field Apr. 88/3 The inauguration of the 50th Scottish postbus is a milestone in an inspired scheme by the postal service to help those who live out in the wilds. 1975Oxford Times 25 July 18/5 (heading) *Postlady is dog's best friend!.. Mrs. Kathy Hilsdon,..a postwoman for nearly 17 years. 1979Guardian 30 Mar. 2/7 Elstead's postlady Mrs Pam Moss is confronted with one of the giant house numbers.
1656Jrnl. Ho. Com. 429/2 That the *Post Letters, directed to..Members of this House,..be free from Postage, as formerly. 1734–5Ibid. 26 Feb. 1758in Howell State Trials XIX. 1369, I ring the bell in Arundel-street in the Strand for post⁓letters. 1837Act 1 Vict. c. 30 §25 Every person..who shall..open or procure, or suffer to be opened, a Post Letter.
1593–4Sylvester Profit Imprisonm. 758 Be it ne'er so long, long sure it cannot last To us whose *post-like life is all so quickly past.
1553in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. ii. 120 [Payment of {pstlg}331. 7s. 4d. to] Sir gilbert Dethick..for..dyette and *poste mony.
1653T. Bateman Let. 13 Dec. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Illustr. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. III. 373 *Post payd. 1689in 12th Rep. R. Comm. Hist. Manuscripts App. vii. 265 in Parl. Papers 1889 (C. 5889) XLV. 533 Cannon bullets flew as fast as you could count them, and as soon as we took up their bulletts we sent them back again post paid. 1708Boston News-Let. 11 Oct. 4/2 Whereas several persons do write upon their Letters Post paid..without ever paying the Postage of the said Letters. 1762Goldsmith Life R. Nash 117 This description..must be sent in a letter post-paid. 1814Niles' Reg. V. 369/1 Letters to the editor must be post-paid. 1828Webster, Post-paid, a., having the postage paid on; as a letter. 1848Thackeray in Scribner's Mag. I. 393/1, I shall send them post-paid. 1926Scribner's Mag. Sept. 24/1 (Advt.), Italian tooled cigarette-cases are smart and light... Colors: brown, dark red and dark green. Postpaid. 1973Sci. Amer. Oct. 118/3 The Math Shop..will supply postpaid (on prepaid orders) 100 plastic cubes. 1976Physics Bull. Feb. 69/1 (Advt.), Price {pstlg}6.50 postpaid.
1705Boston News-Let. 19 Nov. 2/2 Strayed..a sorrel Mare... Whoever can give any true intelligence of her to..the *Post-rider..shall be sufficiently Rewarded. 1759in Pennsylv. Gaz. 3 May 4/3 Ludwick Bierley, Lancaster post-rider,..informs his employers that it is now upwards of twelve months since he began to ride that stage. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. l. 276 Six persons were chosen as post-riders, to give due notice to the country towns of any attempt to land the tea by force. 1827A. Sherwood Gazetteer Georgia p. v, *Post Village. 1847H. Howe Hist. Coll. Ohio 264 Allensville, Middleton, Oak Hill and Charleston are small post villages.
1907Westm. Gaz. 18 Jan. 12/1 Queenston, a post-village and outport of Lincoln County, Ontario.
c1645Howell Lett. i. iv. xxiii. (1650) 127 For better assurance of Lodging wher I pass,..I have a *Post Warrant as far as Saint Davids.
1834Jenkyns in Bye-Gones 11 July (1894) 372 The *Postwoman called with four or five American papers. 1896Westm. Gaz. 14 Jan. 8/1 A rural postwoman whose beat is from Longniddry to Seton Castle.
1827Whewell in Todhunter Acc. Writ. (1876) II. 88 It is still uncertain whether I shall produce a letter that is *post-worthy. 1875Ruskin Hortus Inclusus (1887) 30, I shall post this to-morrow as I pass through Skipton or any post-worthy place. [Note. The ‘posts’ in sense 1 correspond to the equites dispositi or ‘posted horsemen’ of classical and later times (cf. Cæsar B.C. iii. ci). The earliest known use of posta, poste, pointing to the modern sense is by Marco Polo, 1298, who applies, in the French text, ch. xcvii. (ed. 1865, 335), poeste, and, in the Italian, ch. lxxxi. (ed. 1827, I. 91), posta, to the stations 25 miles apart on the great roads, at which the messengers of the Great Kaan or Emperor of China changed horses, and at each of which from 300 to 400 horses are said to have been kept for their service. The expression ‘nous disons poeste de chevaus’, i.e. ‘we say post (or station) of horses’, identifies the word originally with It. posta in the sense of post n.3 The early course of the word in Europe is not altogether clear; but Milanese Latin documents of 1425–8 (L. Osio Doc. Dipl. Milanesi, 1872, II. 163. 357) have portentur die noctuque celeriter per cavallarium postarum, ‘let them be carried day and night swiftly by a post-rider (horseman of the posts)’, and mittat eas per caballarios postarum, ‘let him send them by the horsemen of the posts’. In the second half of the 15th c. F. poste is found also as the appellation of the courier, and in this sense had become masculine before 1480. In English, also, the application of poste, post, to the courier is seen to go back practically to the earliest use of the word.]
▸ Computing. A message displayed on a mailing list, newsgroup, or other online forum to which it has been sent. Cf. posting n.2
1982Human-Nets Digest V5 {hash}105 in fa.human-nets (Usenet newsgroup) 15 Nov. I hoped people had seen my posts to human-nets re the cmu personal computing plans. 1993Ukrainian Weekly (Nexis) 29 Aug. 11 There also may be a moderator who may reject offensive posts to the listserver. 1997Internet World Jan. 10/1 More complaints were heard about the quantity of junk-mail, off-topic posts, boorish behavior, and the general quality of Usenet discussions. 2001S. Johnson Emergence iv. 153 Twenty-five handpicked spam warriors..would sift through the material generated by the community, eliminating irrelevant or obnoxious posts.
▪ III. post, n.3|pəʊst|
Also 6 poste.
[a. F. poste masc. (16th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. It. posto a post, station, employment:—L. postum (whence also Du. post, Ger. posten), contracted from positum, prop. pa. pple. neut. of pōnĕre to place. In early use It. and Fr. had in this sense posta, poste, fem.]
1. Mil.
a. The place where a soldier is stationed; sometimes, a sentinel's or sentry's beat or round.
1598Barret Theor. Warres iv. ii. 107 Not to giue it [the word] vnto the Sentinels, vntill the very point of their placing at their standes or postes. 1697Dryden æneid vi. 777 You see before the gate what stalking ghost Commands the guard, what sentries keep the post. 1713Addison Cato ii, As I watch'd the gate, Lodg'd in my post, a herald is arriv'd From Cæsar's camp. 1799Sheridan Pizarro ii. iv, I will not keep one soldier from his post. 1840Macaulay Ess., Clive (1887) 535 Clive..was awakened by the alarm, and was instantly at his post.
b. transf. and fig. The appointed place; the place of duty.
16..L'Estrange (J.), Every man has his post assigned to him, and in that station he is well, if he can but think himself so. 1712–14Pope Rape Lock ii. 124 Whatever spirit..His post neglects. 1772Mackenzie Man World i. ix, Though his virtue kept her post, she found herself galled in maintaining it. 1829Lytton Devereux ii. xi, My daily post was by the bed of disease and suffering. 1849C. Brontë Shirley xvii, Mr. Hall had taken his post beside Caroline. 1872T. L. Cuyler Heart Th. 63 The loftiest post of honour is the lowliest post of service.
2. Mil.
a. A position taken; a place at which a body of soldiers is stationed, or the force occupying this; esp. a strategic position taken by a commander. Cf. outpost. Also transf. and fig. to take post: to occupy a position.
1692Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. 65 Driven from all their posts and subterfuges. 1706Phillips s.v., In the Art of War, Post signifies any spot of Ground that is capable of lodging Soldiers:..Advanced Post is a spot of Ground before the other Posts to secure those behind. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. ii. ii. 2 The Gauls..were very much surprised to find their posts in the enemy's hand. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxiii. 70 Richard..had taken post at Nottingham. 1813Wellington in Gurw. Desp. XI. 35 Posts will sometimes be surprised and the troops engaged be roughly handled. 1829Sir W. Napier Penins. War II. 268 A body of two thousand men..were..directed to take post at the bridge of Alcantara. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 228 The line of posts which surrounded Londonderry by land remained unbroken. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. vii. (1875) 273 These processions come and take post in the theatres. 1903Daily Chron. 10 Mar. 7/3 Waterholes were located at convenient intervals, and strong posts were left in occupation of them.
b. A place where armed men are permanently quartered for defensive or other purposes; a fort. Also (U.S.) ‘the occupants, collectively, of a military station; a garrison’ (Cent. Dict.); hence, the name given to a local branch of the organization of veterans called ‘the Grand Army of the Republic’.
1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3914/5 This Post was Garisoned by 600 Men. 1769E. Bancroft Guiana 351 Opposite this Island..is a small Post, with several pieces of cannon. a1859Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. V. 2 All the troops of Charles II would not have been sufficient to garrison the posts which we now occupy in the Mediterranean Sea alone. 1890Gardiner Stud. Hist. Eng. (1892) 14 Between them was the smaller post of Uriconium.
1884Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 6 Sept., Edwin-Humphrey Post, No. 104, G.A.R., of this town, celebrated its fifteenth anniversary by a camp-fire Friday evening.
c. transf. A place occupied for purposes of trade, esp. in an uncivilized or unsettled country.
1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 205 Fort Wallah-Wallah, the trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company. 1884Whiton in Chr. World 4 Sept. 663/3 The dark Continent..inviting..schools and churches as well as trading posts.
d. attrib. and Comb., as post-adjutant, post-commander, post-line, post-trader; post exchange U.S., a shop at a military post where goods and services are available to military personnel and authorized civilians.
1871Republican Rev. (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1 Apr. 2/1 Indians stole Levinsky's buggy horses from the Post trader's corral. 1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxv. 525 Mr. Lionel Ayres fills the position of Post Trader. 1878B. Harte Man on Beach 96 Make a requisition on the commissary-general, have it certified to by the quarter⁓master, countersigned by the post-adjutant, and submitted by you to the War Department. 1887Pall Mall G. 10 Aug. 14/1 A ten gallon demijohn of post trader's whisky. 1890Century Dict., Post-trader, a trader at a military post: the official designation of a sutler. 1892Ann. Rep. Secretary of War (U.S.) I. 57 In February last, upon the ground that the term ‘canteen’ possibly conveyed to the public mind a meaning which, though foreign to the main purpose of the institution, has been for years associated in other armies with a place of conviviality and dissipation, the Secretary of War decided to change the name of such establishments to that of ‘post exchange’. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 85/2 Beside it are the company's stables and the store and house of the post-trader where we bought our provisions. 1898Daily News 31 July 5/2 General Toral has sent the members of his staff ahead to notify the post commanders of the terms of surrender. 1919Lit. Digest 22 Nov. 70/2 The Y.W.C.A. hostess house has been turned into a post exchange. 1973H. Gruppe Truxton Cipher iii. 25 He added that he intended to remain in the Naval Reserve so as to retain his..post-exchange privileges.
3. An office or situation to which any one is appointed; position, place; employment.
1695–6T. Smith in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 239, I am very glad of the new post you are preferred to, as you write, the publick Library. 1720Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) VII. 117 A Person of no Learning, and very unfit for this Post. 1760in Cotton Walton's Angler ii. p. xxviii, He was call'd away by some employment, or post, that was conferred upon him. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 223 Arlington quitted the post of secretary of state. 1879M. Arnold Mixed Ess. 148 Those posts in the public service supposed to be posts for gentlemen.
4. Naval.
a. Position as a full-grade captain, i.e. commission as officer in command of a vessel of 20 guns or more; hence, position or order of seniority in the list of captains. Used in the phrases to give post, said of a ship of 20 guns or more, the officer in command of which had the rank of captain; to take post, said of the officer, to receive the commission of captain of such a vessel, to date as captain; also to be made post, to be appointed post captain, to be placed on the list of captains. Now arch. or Hist. Also attrib. as post commission, post rank; see also below.
1720in Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. for 1723, 579–82 A General List of the Captains of His Majesty's Fleet, with the Dates of their First Commissions as Captains, from which they are allowed to take Post. [Dated] Admiralty-Office 1 March, 1720. [Here follow the] Names [in order of] Seniority. [Among these] Sir William Sanderson [and others],..Take Post by a General Order, 1 Jan. 1712–13. 1747Order-in-Council 10 Feb. (Rank and Precedence of Officers) §8 That Captains of His Majesty's Ships or Vessels, not taking Post, have rank as Majors. Ibid. §11 That Post-Captains, commanding ships or vessels that do not give post, rank only as Majors during their commanding such vessels. 1800Naval Chron. IV. 469 Capt. Miller was made post in 1796. 1806A. Duncan Nelson 18 Captain Nelson was made post on the 11th of June, 1779. 1849W. R. O'Byrne Naval Biog. Dict. 259/2 He was rewarded with a Post commission. 1892Brighton Sir P. Wallis 160 He was advanced to post rank on Aug. 12, 1819. 1907Sir J. K. Laughton Let. to Editor, A captain was said to take post from the date of his commission to a ship of not less than 20 guns: his commission to command such a ship ipso facto gave him post.
b. post captain. A captain who ‘takes post’: a designation formerly applied, officially and otherwise, to a naval officer holding a commission as captain, to distinguish him from an officer of inferior rank, to whom the courtesy title of captain was often given, either as being an acting captain, or as being master and commander of a vessel not rated to be commanded by a full-grade captain, and so not said to ‘give post’. Obs. exc. Hist.
So far as the Naval Regulations are concerned the appellation appears to date from about 1731–47, and to have ceased in 1824, when the rule was laid down that only officers appointed to command ‘ships of sixth rate and upwards shall henceforth be styled Captains’. But, in unofficial language, the courtesy use of ‘Captain’ for the ‘Master and Commander’ of a smaller vessel, and the distinctive appellation ‘Post-Captain’, lingered to a much later period.
1747[see above]. 1757J. Lind Lett. Navy i. 21 Both post captains and masters and commanders share alike. 1790Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 217 For the above very gallant action, Captain Gordon was made a Post-Captain. 1796Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1846) VII. p. lxxix, Captain Miller or any other Post Captain, put into Agamemnon, and a Master and Commander acting into the Post Ship, which the Admiralty may confirm or not, as they please. 1849Cobden Speeches 86 Mr. Hume's proposal is..that there shall be only one post-captain promoted to the rank of admiral, for every three admirals who may die, until the number of admirals is reduced to 100.
†c. post ship. Also 8 ship of post. A ship of not less than 20 guns, the commission to command which ‘gave post’ to a captain. Obs.
1731Regulations rel. H.M. Service at Sea, Commanders of Fireships, Sloops, Yachts, Bomb-vessels, Hospitals, Store⁓ships, and other vessels, though they may have commanded Ships of Post before, shall be commanded by junior Captains in Ships of Post, while they keep company together..; but without prejudice to their seniority afterwards. 1747Order-in-Council 10 Feb. (Rank & Precedence of Officers) §6 That Captains commanding post-ships, after three years from the date of their first commission for a post ship, have rank as Colonels. §7 That all other Captains, commanding Post-Ships, have rank as Lieutenant-Colonels. 1757J. Lind Lett. Navy i. 21 The other rank of captains is of them, who have the command of ships of twenty guns, or upwards, which are called post ships. 1790Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 266 The Shirley-galley was..made a post ship in the Royal Navy, and her former commander, Mr. John Rous, appointed Captain of her. 1796[see post captain above].
▪ IV. † post, n.4 Obs.|pəʊst|
Also 6–7 poste.
[app. ad. It. posta ‘a stake at any game; also a good hand drawen or winning at any game, namely at dice’ (Florio); prop. a sum deposited or laid down:—L. posta, posita, pa. pple. fem. of pōnĕre to place: thus orig. the same word as post n.2 Cf. Sp. apostar to bet, deposit a stake.]
A term in card-playing. a. Name of an obsolete card-game, app. the same as post and pair (see below); also, a term in that game: see quots.
1528Roy Rede me (Arb.) 117 In carde playinge he is a goode greke And can skyll of post and glyeke. 1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 225 Hee commeth in onely with iolly brags, and great vants, as if he were playing at Poste, and should winne all by vying. 1611Cotgr., Couche,..the Post, or most of a sute, at cards; also, a set, lay, or stake, at any game. a1612Harington Epigr. iv. xii, The second game was Post, vntill with posting They paid so fast, 'twas time to leaue their bosting. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester xxii. 106 Here note, that he who hath the best Pair or the best Post is the winner. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 73/1 At Post the best cards are 21 viz.: two tens and an Ace, but a paire royall wins all, both Post, Paire and Seat.
b. post and pair. ‘A game on the cards, played with three cards each, wherein much depended on vying, or betting on the goodness of your own hand’ (Nares).
16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. Prol. (Arb.) 3 You that haue beene student at post and paire, saint and Loadam. 1620L. Gernons Disc. Irel. (Stowe MS. 180), When I am playing at poste and payre, my opposite challengeth wth two counters; if I answer him wth two other, and rest, I have but a faynte game. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 73/1 Post and Paire is a game played thus, first stake at Post, then at Paire, after deale two cards, then stake at the seat and then deale the third card about [etc.]. 1808Scott Marm. vi. Introd. 45 That night might..The lord, underogating, share The vulgar game of ‘post and pair’. 1874Jefferies Toilers of Field (1893) 41 Whist and post and pair are the staple indoor amusements. 1887All Year Round 5 Feb. 66 Primero is the ancestor of such gambling games as Post and Pair, once a favourite game in the West of England.
▪ V. post, n.5
[app. ad. Ger. posten parcel, lot, a batch of ore, ad. It. posto:—L. positum that which is put or placed: cf. post n.2 and n.4]
1. Paper-making. A pile of from four to eight quires of hand-made paper fresh from the mould, laid with alternate sheets of felt ready for pressing. white post: see quot. 1875.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Paper, The coucher, who couches it upon a felt laid on a plank, and lays another felt on it; and so successively, a sheet and a felt, a sheet and a felt, till a post, i.e. one pressing, containing six quire, be made. 1766C. Leadbetter Royal Gauger xiv. (ed. 6) 370 An Heap of seven or eight Quires, which is called a Post. 1838Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVII. 15/1 Four to eight quires, according to the size of the paper, form a post. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., A white post is the pile of paper sheets when the felts are removed. 1906R. W. Sindall Paper Technol. 21 The ‘coucher’, who transfers the wet sheet from mould to felt and builds up the pile or ‘post’ of alternate wet sheets and felts. 1965Zigrosser & Gaehde Guide to Collecting Orig. Prints iv. 64 When 144 sheets [of paper] have been formed, they and their protective pads (the stack being known as the post) are conveyed to a press to squeeze out more water.
2. Metallurgy. A batch of ore for smelting at one time.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 326 The smelting post or charge, to be purified at once, consists of 60 cwt. of black copper. Ibid. 328 For example, 1 post or charge may consist of 20 cwts. of the ferruginous slate [etc.].
▪ VI. post, n.6 Law.|pəʊst|
[From the Lat. word post after, occurring in the writ: see quot. 1595.]
In the phrase ‘in the († le) post’, lit. ‘in the (time) after (the disseisin)’, esp. in the ‘writ of entry sur disseisin in the post’: see quot. 1895.
[1293Year Bks. Edw. I (Rolls) I. 431 Adam porta bref de entre en le post ver N., en le queus yl nad entre si noun puys la disseysine ke B. fyt a meymes cely Adam.] 1495Rolls of Parlt. VI. 472/2 Severall Writtes of Entre in le Post. 1511–12Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 18 Preamble, Wrytte of entre uppon disseysen in the post be fore the Justices..of his Comen Benche. 1595Expos. Termes Law 77 And if land bee conueid ouer to manie, or if the first disseisor bee disseised, then the writte of Entre shall be in the Post, that is to say that the tenaunt hath no entry but after the disseisin which the first disseisour made to the demandant or his auncestor. Ibid. 77 b, And the writte shall say, in quod A. non habet ingressum nisi post disseisinam, quam B. inde iniuste & sine iuditio fecit praef. N. vel M. proauo N. cuius hæres ipse est. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 399 The disseisor came in in the post, that is, he did not claim by or from the feoffee to uses, but came in of an estate paramount to that of such feoffee. 1895Pollock & Maitland Hist. Eng. Law II. ii. iv. 65 The statute of Marlborough..gave the disseisee or his heir ‘a writ of entry sur disseisin in the post’, an action, that is, in which he might allege that his adversary ‘had no entry into the land save after (post) the disseisin’ that some one or another (X) perpetrated against the demandant or his ancestor. In such an action it was unnecessary for the demandant to trace the process by which the land passed from the disseisor (X) to the tenant whom the action attacked.
▪ VII. post, n.7|pəʊst|
[f. post v.1 8.]
An act of posting; an entry (in a ledger, etc.).
1766W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 6 Such post or entry in the Journal is called a simple post. [1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XV. 423/1 Post, an operation in book-keeping. Posting in book-keeping means simply the transferring of an article to the place in which it should be put.]
▪ VIII. post, n.8 Mil.|pəʊst|
[app. from post n.3 sense 1: short for ‘call to post’, or the like.]
A bugle-call giving notice of the hour of retiring for the night. Usually first post or last post.
Tattoo or Watchsetting is now divided into two ‘posts’ sounded normally at 9.30 and 10 p.m., followed by ‘Lights out’ at 10.15 p.m. For many years it has been customary to sound ‘Last post’ by a soldier's grave after the interment.
[1864Standing Orders Roy. Reg. Artill. 134 Watchsetting. 1st post. 2nd post. 3rd post. 4th post. [A separate tune given for each.] ]1885City Press 30 Sept., First post was sounded at half-past ten. 1886Standing Orders, Southern District §12 Weather permitting, the 1st Post at Tattoo (in Portsmouth) will be sounded on the road opposite the Main Guard by the Drums and Fifes of the Regiment detailed..for that duty. 1900Daily News 17 May 3/2 A few hours after, the ‘last post’ sounds over another victim to the pomp and glory of war! Ibid. 19 May 2/1 The brave dead were laid to their long rest in the veldt by their comrades at eventide, while ‘The Last Post’ wailed on the solemn air. 1901King's Regul. Army §252 ‘Tattoo’ (‘last post’) at 10.0 p.m. Ibid. §254 Which is to be sounded a quarter of an hour after ‘last post’ or tattoo.
▪ IX. ‖ post, n.9 E. Indies.
[a. Pers. and Urdū pōst skin, rind, poppy-head.]
The poppy-head; opium.
1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 32 Upon an Offence they are sent by the King's Order, and committed to a place called the Post (from the Punishment inflicted), where the Master of the Post is acquainted with the heinousness of the Crime; which being understood he heightens by a Drink,..made of Bang..mingled with Dutry (the deadliest sort of Solanum, or Nightshade) named Post, [which] after a Week's taking, they crave more than ever they nauseated. Ibid. 104 The inebriating Confection of the Post. [1882Edin. Rev. July 73 The way in which people there [in the Punjaub] talk of ‘postees’ or opium-eaters. ]
▪ X. post, n.10|pəʊst|
Short for post captain: see post n.3 4; ellipt. for post entry, q.v.
▪ XI. post, n.11|pəʊst|
U.S. slang abbrev. of post-graduate n.
1900Dialect Notes II. 51 Post, n.,..2. A post-graduate student. 1914Ibid. IV. 134 It must be nice to be a post,—they have so many privileges. 1930Amer. Speech V. 242 Post, post graduate.
▪ XII. post, n.12 colloq. (chiefly U.S.).
[Abbrev. of post mortem, post-mortem n.]
An autopsy, post-mortem. Hence as v. trans., to perform an autopsy on (someone).
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §534/2 Post,..post-mortem examination. 1961Amer. Speech XXXVI. 145 The patient died last night and will be posted this morning. 1968J. Hudson Case of Need i. v. 41 The post hadn't been started. 1969‘F. Richards’ Risky Way to Kill (1970) xii. 147 She died last night. Overdose, probably. They're doing a post. 1979R. Cook Sphinx 177 They had no internal organs. Just a shell of a body. When a post is done the shell is only cursorily examined.
▪ XIII. post, v.1|pəʊst|
[f. post n.2, or a. obs. F. poster (16th c. in Littré) ‘courir les postes’. Cf. obs. Du. posten ‘cursitare..discurrere’ (Kilian).]
I. intr.
1. To travel with relays of horses (originally, as a courier or bearer of letters).
1533Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VI. 123 To ane boy that postit nycht and day in the northland with lettrez. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 234 b, His servant..had put on the apparell of a messenger, that posteth with letters. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 65 Riding as fast as our horses could trot (for we had fresh horses almost thrise or four times a day) we posted from morning till night. 1683Brit. Spec. 253 [He was] transported from Brighthemstead..to Feecam..whence he posted directly to Rouen. 1706Phillips, To Post it, to go or ride Post. 1832W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 465 We posted in an open carriage. 1873Helps Anim. & Mast. viii. (1875) 201 When you are posting, you must have a horse for every adult passenger.
2. To ride, run, or travel with speed or haste; to make haste, hasten, hurry.
1567Drant Horace, Ep. to Mæcenas D vj, To Philippes house al sodainly hee posteth in a brade. 1582Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 53 To top hastly of turret I posted. 1595Blanchardyn 208 They posted so fast [tant cheuaucherent], that within short time they came before the gate. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xxi. 211 Had he seen Peter and John posting to Christs grave. 1782Cowper Gilpin 214 Mistress Gilpin, when she saw Her husband posting down Into the country far away. 1851E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 214 To post about in Omnibi between Lincoln's Inn and Bayswater. 1885Stevenson Child's Gard., Lamplighter i, With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
b. fig.
1558Holland in Foxe A. & M. (1570) 2238/2 The Priestes doe so champe them and chaw them [the words of the service], and posteth so fast, that neither they vnderstand what they say, nor they that heare them. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. 403 Gray haires come posting on. 1636Prynne Unbish. Tim. Ded. (1661) 7 Though they greedily post and hunt after Bishopricks. 1725Pope Odyss. xv. 381 He wastes away Old age, untimely posting ere his day. 1852M. Arnold Empedocles on Etna i. ii, We see, in blank dismay, Year posting after year, Sense after sense decay.
3. Manège. To rise and fall in the saddle, like a post-boy, when riding.
1882in Ogilvie.
II.
†4. trans. To cause to post or hasten; to dispatch or send in haste; to hasten, hurry (a person). Obs.
1570Levins Manip. 176/7 To Poste, properare. 1582Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 27 He foorth posted..Mercurye downeward. 1628Gaule Pract. The. (1629) 68 God posts away Gabriel the Harbinger with this Message. 1694Westmacott Script. Herb. (1695) 184 Whom..Saffron, by the too frequent and lavish Use thereof in the Small-Pox, hath posted to their long homes. 1700Farquhar Constant Couple v. iii, My father..posts me away to travel. 1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xvii. 101 Posting your eye down the columns, eager to see whether the alliance between Russia and Prussia is going on.
†b. Oxford Univ. slang. To summon (a candidate) for examination on the first day of a series.
1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 42 (1754) 224 The first and the last column in the [collector's] scheme, (which contain the names of those who are to come up the first day and the last day, and which is call'd posting and dogging,) are esteem'd very scandalous. Great application is made to them..to avoid being posted or dogg'd.
III. To convey or send by post, or post-haste.
†5. To carry in the manner of a post; to convey swiftly. Obs.
1611Shakes. Cymb. ii. iv. 27 The swiftest Harts, have posted you by land; And Windes of all the Corners kiss'd your Sailes. a1644Quarles Sol. Recant. Sol. iv. 24 Hath Heaven..glorifi'd thy name With honor, posted on the wings of Fame? 1682D'Urfey Injured Princ. iii. ii, The swiftest Racers posted you by Land.
6.
†a. To send by special messenger. Obs.
1657–61Heylin Hist. Ref. I. 32 The Roman Emperors; whose Edict for a General Council might speedily be posted over all the Province. a1662― Laud ii. 327 The noise of these Proceedings..being quickly posted to the Scots. 1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1867) II. 71 False Reports..were posted home by those ill affected Officers. 1724in G. Sheldon Hist. Deerfield, Mass. (1895) I. 417 News from Albany..which news I immediately posted to Deerfield and Northfield.
b. To send through the post office; to put (a letter, etc.) into a post office or letter-box for transmission by the post.
18379th Rep. Post-Office 85 If a letter or packet should be posted with a penny stamped cover. 1840Mulready Cover (Instructions), It is Requested that all Letters may be fully and legibly addressed, and posted as early as convenient. 1852McCulloch Taxation ii. vii. 317 The necessity..of paying the postage at the moment when letters are posted. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 143 His letter was posted two days later. 1886Law Times LXXX. 211/1 The bills of costs were duly posted to Bouron in Paris.
IV.
7. to post over, post off. †a. To hand over or transfer (a duty, responsibility, etc.) to another; to shift, delegate, assign; to pass off, turn off. Obs.
1578Timme Caluine on Gen. 104 After the example of her husband, she poasteth over the fault to another. 1578T. White Serm. 84 Euery body can post it [blame] off, or sport it out so prettily. 1593Nashe Christ's T. 83 b, Poste ouer the Plague to what naturall cause you will, I positiuely affirme it is for Sinne. 1618E. Elton Exp. Rom. vii. 88 It is the fashion of most men to post off the fault and blame of their sinnes from themselues. a1656Hales Gold. Rem. (1688) 317 Nothing so well done as that which the master of the House..posts not over to his servants.
†b. To put off; to postpone, defer, delay. Obs.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 139 He posted over and deferred his opinion from time to time. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 58 The compasse of your writing..maketh me post off the answere. c1592Trag. Rich. III (Shaks. Soc.) 69 But they that knew how innocent I was, Did post him off with many long delayes, Alleaging reasons to alaie his rage. 1642C. Vernon Consid. Exch. 95 Divers good Rents and Debts have for some private ends been suffered to bee posted off, de anno in annum.
V. Book-keeping, etc. (app. related to IV.)
8. To carry or transfer (an entry) from an auxiliary book to one of more formal character, esp. from the day-book or journal into the ledger, but also from a waste-book, day-book, or cash-book into the journal; to carry (an item or entry) to the proper account; also, by extension, to enter (an item) in proper form in any of the books.
1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 365 These seuen parcels are now put ouer into the Liedger which some call posted ouer. 1682[see posting vbl. n.1 5]. 1706Phillips s.v., To Post an Account, is to put an Account forward from one Book to another; as to transcribe, or enter what is written in a Merchant's Waste-Book into the Journal, etc. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 158 To see the crimes of new democracy posted as in a ledger against the crimes of old despotism. 1817J. K. Paulding Lett. fr. South II. 110 Old H― was obliged to post the proceeds of the cargo to profit and loss. 1875Poste Gaius iii. Comm. (ed. 2) 407 At the end of each month the contents of the Adversaria were posted into the more formal journal, the Tabulae.
b. To complete (the ledger or other book) by transferring to it all the items in the auxiliary books, and entering them in their proper accounts; to make the proper entries in all the books, so that they contain a complete record of transactions; often post up (i.e. up to date, or to completion).
1707Providence Rec. (1896) X. 94 So soone as Conveniently may be that y⊇ bookes cann be posted. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull i. x, You have not posted your books these ten years. 1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (1841) I. xxxi. 319 He has not posted his cash-book for I know not how many months; nor posted his day-book and journal at all. Ibid. II. xxxiii. 62 A copy of the ledger duly posted up. 1892Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker i, Take a pride to keep your books posted, and never throw good money after bad.
9. fig. (orig. U.S. colloq.) To supply with full information or latest news on a subject; to inform. Often post up. Usually in pass.
1847Nat. Encycl. I. 619 Posted-up is an Americanism for well-informed, thoroughly conversant with. 1856G. D. Brewerton War in Kansas 365 As regards the details of the defences at Lawrence, we should certainly have been ‘better posted’ than we are. 1862Thackeray Round. Papers, De Finibus, To improve my mind and keep myself ‘posted up’, as the Americans phrase it, with the literature of the day. 1868G. Duff Pol. Surv. 19, I wish our journals would keep us better posted up with regard to events in Belgium. 1883C. D. Warner Roundabout Journey 239 The lovers of the sport always post themselves as to the character of the bulls who are to perform. 1886Miss Tytler Buried Diamonds vii, Tell me..what books you had to post yourself up in for your examinations.
▪ XIV. post, v.2|pəʊst|
[f. post n.1: in various unconnected groups of senses.]
I.
†1. trans. To square (timber) before sawing it, or in order to form it into posts. Obs. or dial.
c1520Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 204 Johanni Hogsson postyng tymber ad Ryso & alias per j diem, 5d. Ibid. 205 Will'mo Howyd postyng tymber for the sayd fertter per iij dies, & sawyng, 18d. 1600Fairfax Tasso xix. xxxvi, There lay by chance a posted tree therebie. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., When a tree is cut into a square form, it is termed posted.
II.
†2. To furnish or set with posts. Obs. rare.
1716Maldon, Essex, Borough Deeds Bundle 147. No. 3 Wee present the sirvairs [= surveyors] of St Mary's [parish] for not posteing the foot-way.
III. 3. To attach or moor (a vessel) to a post.
1868[see posting vbl. n.2 1].
IV.
4. To affix (a paper, etc.) to a post or in a prominent position; to stick up in a public place.
1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres iii. 62 Divers bills posted up that threatned mischief to the Judges. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 187 A Paper was posted upon the Old Exchange..Exhorting Prentices to rise and sack his House. 1715Boston Rec. (1884) II. 220 Posting up twenty of the said printed by-laws on several publick places in the said town. 1806A. Duncan Nelson's Fun. 12 A written order..had been..posted up. 1851Dickens Repr. Pieces, Bill-sticking (1903) 62 The old bill-stickers went to Trafalgar Square to attempt to post bills. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 221 Boards intended for posting papers upon. 1884Manch. Exam. 19 Feb. 4/7 The coalmasters..have posted a notice at the collieries intimating a reduction..in the wages of miners. 1975Publishers Weekly 10 Feb. 45/1 This poster was mailed to ABA members in the hope that they will post it.
5. a. To make known, advertise, bring before the public (some fact, thing, or person) by or as by posting a placard. Also with up.
1633Massinger Guardian i. i, If you take the wench now, I'll have it posted first, then chronicled, Thou wert beaten to it. 1694South Serm. (1727) III. vi. 249 Those Pretences to infallible Cures, which we daily see posted up in every Corner of the Streets. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. Ded., The grateful votaries..posted up in his temple the histories of their diseases. 1828–32Webster s.v., To advertise on a post or in a public place; as, to post a stray horse. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. x, Seeing him posted in the bill of the night, I attended the performance.
b. spec. To expose to ignominy, obloquy, or ridicule, by this means. Now rare.
1642Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. xvi. 88, I may..be poasted up..as one that dares not hazard a whole Nationall Church at blind man buffe. 1650Fuller Pisgah 424 Here we must have an abominable falshood.., posted, and pillored. 1684Wood Life 4 Sept. (O.H.S.) III. 108 Wright Croke..was posted up for a shark and coward in Day's coffey house. 1710Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 91 Their exploits were so mean, and their actions so vain That they all deserve to be posted. 1812Ann. Reg., Chron. 146/2 A criminal information against two persons for posting a merchant of London in a coffee-house for refusing a challenge. 1840Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1867) 34 I'll post you for a swindler and a coward. 1884Law Times 7 June 93/1 If he had not paid the bets..he would have been posted as a ‘defaulter’ at Tattersalls.
c. In some colleges: To place in a list, which is posted up, the names of (students who fail to pass in the college examinations).
In Cambridge colleges, said of those whose names are now subjoined to the lists of successful examinees as not classed.
1852C. A. Bristed Eng. Univ. 100 [At Trinity Coll., Camb.] should a man be posted twice in succession, he is generally recommended to try the air of some small college, or devote his energies to some other walk of life. 1859Farrar J. Home xix, He had been posted, in company with H. and Lord F.; i.e. their names had been written up below the eighth class as ‘unworthy to be classed’.
d. To publish the name of (a ship) as overdue or missing.
1886Clark Russell Voy. to Cape (1893) 136 My sympathy with the sailor makes me feel as often as I hear of a cargo vessel being ‘posted’ as if a very grave wrong were done to the memory of the drowned seamen by the unconcern with which the great mass of the public receive the news. 1896Times (weekly ed.) 10 Jan. 38/3 They [the ships] were posted at Lloyd's on Wednesday as missing.
e. To achieve, ‘notch up’. N. Amer.
1949Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch 10 Oct. 13/5 William and Mary, which Saturday posted a 54-6 decision over the Keydets to tie North Carolina for the conference lead (each has a 2-0 record), has one remaining State battle. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 18/9 John Armstrong of Oshawa posted the longest jump of 110 feet on his way to second place. 1972Time 13 Mar. 48/3 In 1944, he [sc. a basketball pitcher]..posted the lowest earned run average in the major leagues. 1973Internat. Herald Tribune 15 June 15/3 Wise, posting his eighth victory against three defeats, struck out four, walked three and retired 14 consecutive batters at one stretch. 1975New Yorker 23 June 43/1 He won nineteen games for the Pirates and lost only eight, posting an earned-run average of 2.48.
f. To announce, publish. N. Amer.
1961Los Angeles Times 21 June iv. 6/6 Gains of 23/4 were posted for Teleprompter and Republic Foil. 1962Economist 19 May 697/2 Producer governments certainly cannot get better prices for their crude oil than those ‘posted’ by the companies controlled by the international groups there. 1973Time 25 June 23/4 Companies that posted big price increases during Phase III will be audited. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 7-e/6 The stock market shook off Tuesday's spell of profit taking Wednesday and posted a modest gain in moderately active trading.
6. To placard (a wall, etc.) with bills, etc.
1854Dickens Hard T. iii. iv, He caused the walls to be posted with it [a broadsheet]. 1887Pall Mall G. 24 Dec. 2/1 We had to fall back on posting the neighbourhoods as well as we could... We put out a poster and forty-five hand⁓bills to every three men who registered. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. ii. 9/1 Highway arteries have been posted, warning us that stiff fines will be imposed if we toss our leavings out of the car windows. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 8-a/1 We have posted all the bars and put up signs that make it clear that no drinking is allowed in any public place.
▸ Computing. To send (a message or data) to a mailing list, newsgroup, or other online forum on which it will be displayed; to display or make available online. Also intr.
This sense shows the influence of post v.2, esp. in those instances when the to construction is used and when the message is sent only to people on a specific mailing list, rather than being displayed on an open-access site.
1981Re: fa.* Netnews Categories in net.news (Usenet newsgroup) 9 June If I post something on fa.info-cpm, for example, and we ship it to you by having it in our.sys file, how far will you re-d[i]stribute it? 1981Interface Age July 98/1 Messages can be posted for later pick-up by a specified recipient... In the general mode, a bulletin can be posted for retrieval by anyone. 1985Online '85 Conf. Proc. 133 Bulletin board users can post messages about computer problems, look for a..companion, offer merchandise for sale, or chat. 1991Home Office Computing June 33/1 Posting a question in an on-line service will typically produce knowledgeable answers. 1994D. Rushkoff Cyberia i. iii. 34 After the first computer nets between university and military research facilities went up, scientists and other official subscribers began to ‘post’ their most recent findings to databases accessible to everyone on the system. 1999Daily Tel. 25 Feb. (Connected section) 15/3 All you have to do is register for the site and then you can read and post to the groups of your choice with the click of a browser button. 2002Yahoo! Internet Life June 85/2 Pictures of the ‘fids’ (feathered kids) are posted in one corner; memorials for the deceased have been set up in another.
▪ XV. post, v.3|pəʊst|
[f. post n.3; so F. poster (16th c.) to post, station (troops, etc.).]
1. trans. To place, station.
1683Penn Wks. (1782) IV. 316 The place of the glass⁓house [is] conveniently posted for water-carriage. a1688Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Battle of Sedgmoor Wks. (1775) 121, I suppose..that your Lordship was posted in a very strong place. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 ⁋3 A Country Girl, who was posted on an Eminence at some Distance from me. 1833Ritchie Wand. by Loire 166 He..posted himself at the door of the banqueting hall. 1874Green Short Hist. v. §1. 223 A body of English horsemen, posted on a hill to the right, charged suddenly on the French flank.
b. intr. (for refl.) To station oneself, stop. rare.
1872H. Cowles in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xciv. 10 The question posts midway..the point of application being too obvious to need mention.
2. Mil. and Naval. To appoint to a post or command; spec. to appoint to command a ship which ‘gave post’ (see post n.3 4); to commission as captain. Chiefly pass.
1800Wellesley in Owen Desp. (1877) 555 One additional subaltern at least should be posted to every company of artillery. 1809Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) V. 313, I am..unwilling to send Mr. Dunlop to any particular regiment lest he should not be posted to it. c1815Jane Austen Persuasion xxiii, When I returned to England in the year eight, with a few thousand pounds, and was posted into the Laconia. 1833Marryat P. Simple lii, I am posted, and appointed to the Semiramis frigate. 1894Lancet 3 Nov. 1056/1 Surgeon-Major Tuthill, on arrival from a tour of service at Gibraltar, has been posted to Dublin. 1907Sir J. K. Laughton Let. to Editor, Every ship of 20 guns or more was a post-ship, and a man was ordinarily said to be posted, that is, appointed to command a ship which gave him post as a captain.
Hence ˈposting vbl. n.3
[1800Misc. Tracts in Asiat. Ann. Reg. 9/1 The posting the English troops too far from his own person.] 1847Infantry Man. (1854) 99 The posting of a piquet. 1880Gen. Adye in 19th Cent. 701 There are palpable defects and anomalies in the Staff Corps arrangements as regards the posting of the regimental officers.
▪ XVI. post, v.4 Sc. dial.
[dial. var. of poss v.]
trans. To trample (clothes) in water in the process of washing them; also, to knead (clothes) with the hands for this purpose. Hence ˈposting vbl. n.4
1820Armstrong Gael. Dict. s.v. Postadh, The Highland women put them in a tub,..[and] then, with petticoats tucked up..commence the operation of posting. 1893N. Munro Lost Pibroch (1902) 18 The women, posting blankets for the coming sheiling, stopped their splashing in the little linn. Ibid. 71 A white blanket that needs no posting.
▪ XVII. post, v.5 slang.
[app. f. post n.3 or (?) It. posta a stake.]
trans. To lay down, stake, deposit, pay down. spec. of bail money.
1781C. Johnston John Juniper II. 48 Toby having, in his own phrase, posted the cole (staked down the money)..lost a game or two, according to rule. 1781–1870 [see cole n.3]. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Post or post the poney, to stake, or lay down the money. 1821Sporting Mag. VIII. N.S. 233 Many..will recollect the needful was not posted. 1891Lic. Vict. Gaz. 3 Apr. (Farmer), Done! post the money. 1974Observer 7 Apr. 4/8 Immediately after posting five million francs..bail money..he took a private plane home from Geneva. 1974Progress (Easley, S. Carolina) 24 Apr. 10/1 Arrested and charged with illegal possession and sale of piranha, the dealer posted bond and awaits trial which should come this week. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vi. 223 The other defendants flew in from around the country to plead innocent and post bail.
▪ XVIII. post, adv. Obs. or arch.|pəʊst|
[Originating in the phrase ride in post (F. chevaucher en poste), (post n.2 8 d), abbreviated to ride post, and thence extended to other verbs.]
With post-horses; by post; express; with speed or haste. Cf. F. courir la poste, now, to run very fast. a. With ride, run, and other verbs of motion.
1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Jas. 37 You ryde poste to the deuil. 1588Fraunce Lawiers Log. Ded., Riding poast towards London you chaunged horse at the universitie. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. ii. 112 Mount thee vpon his horse, Spurre post, and get before him to the King. 1613W. Browne Brit. Past. i. i, She follow'd, flyes; she fled from, followes post. a1651Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 230 Madame Raillie..sent post to the comptroller, the Laird of Pittarrow,..and called for his assistance. a1653Binning Serm. (1845) 377 Men begin at leisure, but they run post before all be done. 1660Act 12 Chas. II, c. 35 §1 His Majestyes Post Master Generall..shall from time to time have the receiving, taking up, ordering, dispatching, sending post or with speade, and delivering of all Letters and Pacquets whatsoever. 1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2485/4 A Gentleman riding Post with the Mail, was likewise taken into the said Wood. 1711Royal Proclam. 23 June ibid. No. 4866/1 The Horsing of any Person..Riding Post, (that is to say) Riding several Stages upon a Post-Road, and changing Horses. 1711Ibid. /2 All Letters..shall..be..delivered to the Deputy.., and..sent Post unto the..General Post-Office. 1716Ibid. No. 5431/3 He set out Post for Paris. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) III. lxxxi. 166 Sir T― sent his valet de chambre post with a letter. 1802E. Parsons Myst. Visit II. 176 They were to travel post. 1838Murray's Handbk. N. Germ. 83 Provided..he be not journeying post to the Rhine. 1883Stevenson Treasure Isl. ii. vii, So now, Livesey, come post; do not lose an hour, if you respect me.
b. With other verbs: With speed, fast; hastily.
1632Shirley Changes i. i. 4 'Twere no good manners to speake hastily to a Gentlewoman, to talke post (as they say) to his Mistresse. 1634J. Taylor (Water P.) Gt. Eater Kent 4 Some haue the agilitie to ride poast, some the facilitie to runne poast, some the dexteritie to write poast, and some the abilitie to speake poast. a1658Cleveland 2nd Elegy to B. Jonson 53 Scriblers (that write Post and versifie With no more Leasure than we cast a Dye).
▪ XIX. ‖ post|pəʊst|
the Latin preposition meaning ‘after’, occurring in certain phrases used in English contexts, as post meridiem, post mortem; also in
1. post bellum, after the war; also fig.
1874Southern Mag. XIV. 37 It [sc. Atlanta] looks so little like a post-bellum town. 1883Standard 17 Sept. 5/3 They were swamped by the gorgeous people of the post bellum epoch. 1905Westm. Gaz. 30 Aug. 9/3 What the post-bellum expenses of..Japan and Russia will be during the next five, or even ten, years. 1920Czecho-Slovak Trade Jrnl. Apr. 5 The post-bellum difficulties..do not yet permit her to throb with full vigour and strength. 1940Beerbohm Mainly on Air (1946) 97 The future, the post-bellum period, is to be perfectly splendid. 1974‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Other Story xvi. 127 A post-bellum relationship... That was it. Mr Charles Carter..was no longer Miss Kenterell's quarry.
2. post coitum, after sexual intercourse; also as n.; spec. with allusion to the proverb post coitum omne animal triste est (and variants) ‘after sexual intercourse every animal is sad’. Also transf.
The phrase as such does not occur in classical Latin, but cf. [Aristotle] Problems 877 b 9 διὰ τί οἱ νέοι, ὄταν πρῶτον ἀϕροδισιάζειν ἄρχωνται, αἷς ἄν ὁµιλήσωσι, µετὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν µισοῦσιν; ‘Why do young men, on first having sexual intercourse, afterwards hate those with whom they have just been associated?’; Pliny Nat. Hist. x. lxxxiii. homini tantum primi coitus paenitentia ‘man alone experiences regret after first having intercourse’.
1762Sterne Tr. Shandy V. xxxvi. 126 The oily and balsamous parts are of a lively heat and spirit, which accounts for the observation of Aristotle, ‘Quod omne animal post coitum est triste.’ [1920A. Huxley Leda 34 Some..Mount up on wings as frail and misty As passion's all-too-transient kiss (Though afterwards—oh, omne animal triste!)] 1928Jrnl. Morphol. XLVI. 171 Embryos with six to ten somites are to be expected in the opossum about 8½ days post coitum. 1933M. Lowry Ultramarine iii. 158 Whether life was worth living or not was a matter for an embryo rather than a man. ‘Post coitum omne animalia triste est. Omne? Supinus pertundo tunicam. 1959Listener 15 Oct. 651/2 A remorseful attack of post coitum triste. 1966C. M. Bowra Memories xi. 246 Once Clark was visiting a college farm, and the party witnessed a bull servicing a cow. Clark..said, ‘Blakeway, omne animal post coitum triste. There was, Blakeway, a firm of solicitors in London called Mann, Rogers, and Greaves.’ 1967Listener 12 Jan. 71/2 Elizabeth Sellars..had to..register such stock emotions as there was time for—fear (lover dead post coitum?) and gratification (post coitum and dialogue apparently working). 1975M. Bradbury History Man i. 6 He is in that flat state of literary post coitum that affects those who spend too much time with their own lonely structures and plots. 1979Guardian 13 June 9/5 If you think there's no post coitum triste in angling, try chatting up a tench fisherman after he's spent a night by the lake.
3. post diem, after the day; in Law: see quots.
1607Cowell Interpr., Post diem, is a returne of a writ after the day assigned for the returne: for the which, the Custos breuium hath foure pence..: or it may be the fee taken for the same. 1658Practick Part of Law 8 You are to pay 4d. as a post-diem for each of the aforesaid Processe, which you bring not into the Philizer by the day of the return. 1848in Wharton Law Lex.
4. post eventum = post factum.
1846Geo. Eliot tr. Strauss's Life of Jesus III. 166 Thus renouncing what is narrated..as composed post eventum. 1920Glasgow Herald 13 July 6 Mr Asquith's post-eventum reproofs..leave us cold when we recall that.. he and his colleagues might have done much to make the preaching of their historic dogma on retrenchment an effective feature. 1958Listener 25 Dec. 1092/2, I should have liked to put my oar, post eventum, into the argument. 1961J. B. Wilson Reason & Morals i. 8 What seems to happen is that the philosopher arrives on the scene several centuries too late, and explains the advance of knowledge post eventum.
5. post festum = prec. (In quot. 1966 lit. ‘after the festival’.)
1887Moore & Aveling tr. Marx's Capital I. i. 47 He begins, post festum, with the results of the process of development ready to hand before him. 1935H. Straumann Newspaper Headlines ii. 55 It must be kept in mind that it is an interpretation post festum. 1958W. Stark Sociol. of Knowl. 193 They [sc. derivations] are merely the accompaniments of action..the post festum rationalizations of human conduct which, in itself, is anything but rational. 1966New Statesman 11 Nov. 718/3 The reference is to a mate in 17 which the problem's author very kindly meant to mark the 17th anniversary of this column some months ago... So let's ‘celebrate’ it, even though a bit post festum. 1970B. Brewster tr. Althusser & Balibar's Reading Capital (1975) ii. v. 122 It begins, post festum, with already established givens.
6. post hoc, after this. post hoc, ergo propter hoc, after this, therefore on account of this; expressing the fallacy that a thing which follows another is therefore caused by it.
1704Norris Ideal World ii. iii. 221 That maxim,—Post hoc, ergo propter hoc,—which indeed is good logick with the vulgar,..methinks should not pass for such with the learned. 1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xi. 119 In the cases in which recovery is stated to have followed this practice [of mercurialization] the post hoc has been mistaken for the propter hoc. 1889Athenæum 13 Apr. 468/1 We have read the whole statement without feeling convinced that ‘post hoc’ necessarily included ‘propter hoc’ in this case. 1905Discriminator Prosp. 26 Inventing a dangerous post hoc explanation of a catastrophe which has surprised him.
7. post partum, after child-birth. post-partum depression = postnatal depression s.v. postnatal a. Also fig.
1844Medico-Chirurg. Rev. XLI. 267 On using the catheter, 36 hours post partum, Dr. Crosse found the uterus inverted in the vagina. 1846Northern Jrnl. Med. IV. 1 (heading) Some suggestions regarding the anatomical source and pathological nature of post-partum hemorrhage. 1857Dunglison Med. Dict., Post-partum, after delivery, as, post partum hemorrhage. 1878A. Hamilton Nerv. Dis. 113 The alarming condition that we occasionally meet with after post-partum hemorrhage. 1911R. Jardine Delayed & Complicated Labour xiv. 185 If the third stage of labour is properly conducted, post-partum hæmorrhage can be largely prevented. 1929Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry VIII. 767, I didn't study the infanticidal impulses of many women, because these impulses are more prominent in post-partum depressions. 1957A. Guttmacher Pregnancy & Birth xvi. 250 ‘Post partum blues’, beginning a day or two after delivery and lasting several days, are frequently encountered... Your doctor..can reassure you he has met postpartum blues.. in people whose depression cleared up. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 244, I was beginning to feel the empty winds of a post-partum gloom. 1974Publishers Weekly 18 Mar. 44/3 The scary-funny business of bearing a baby and coping postpartum. 1976Dissertation Abstr. Internat. B. XXXVI. 5793/1 Hostile attitudes toward mother figures predispose some women toward experiences of postpartum depression. 1977Lancet 28 May 1126/1 A 31-year-old woman, 6 months post-partum, complained of fatiguability.
8. post terminum (Law): see post term n.
9. With English words and phrases. [Cf. post- B. 1 d.]
Usu. found in contexts where after would be equally appropriate and more agreeable.—Ed.
1965Listener 16 Sept. 432/3 Der Ferne Klang is post-Wagnerian, and post just about everything else that was happening at the turn of the century. 1973Nature 26 Jan. 273/1 Medium was replaced two days post plating and the number of foci determined on the third day. 1974Daily Tel. 7 Jan. 13/3 Now, post the increase [in the price of oil],..future gold price prospects far outweigh individual share fundamentals. 1979Ibid. 19 July 21/4 Post the Geneva meeting of Opec the OECD reckons that its 24 member countries..can expect average economic growth of only two p.c. over the next 12 months.
▪ XX. post
obs. form of posed, pa. pple. of pose v.1
▪ XXI. post
variant of poust Obs., power. |