postboxn.1
/ˈpəʊs(t)bɒks/, U.S. /ˈpoʊs(t)ˌbɑks/ a. A box in which letters are posted or deposited for collection by the post office; a pillar box, letterbox.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > post- or letter-box > pillar-box
postbox1786
pillar-post1840
pillar letter-box1854
pillar box1855
pillar1865
1786 R. Bage Barham Downs 125 I sealed this letter and put it in my pocket, intending to slip it into the post box at the George.
1837 Morning Post 27 Feb. 6 The Post Office stamp upon the letters..indicates the quarter where they have been thrown into the post-box.
1860 W. Collins Woman in White in All Year Round 12 May 101/1 The letter was written... I myself put it into the post-box in the village.
1898 E. N. Westcott Story Amer. Life iii. 26 It should be put into the very first post-box that he came to on his way to school.
1937 A. Christie Dumb Witness viii. 88 I just put a stamp on it and ran out to the post box and posted it.
1955 Times 3 May 5/4 Posting the letters at different post-boxes on the way.
1978 G. 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.
1995 Which? July 42/1 Many computers..act like postboxes, allowing you to send messages (e-mail) to their users, almost instantly.
b. A box to which post office mail, newspapers, etc., are delivered.
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society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > post- or letter-box
letterbox1727
post1785
box1825
mailbox1885
posting box1886
postbox1954
society > communication > correspondence > postal services > equipment for sending or delivering mail > [noun] > post- or letter-box > delivery letter-box
letterbox1801
lockbox1854
mailbox1871
postbox1954
1954 J. Collin-Smith Scorpion on Stone ii. 42 I say! I've been to the post-box. My papers have come.
1986 J. Brouard in Style Sept. 54 South Africans cannot remain in Australia to work temporarily while the paperwork gets done... So it's huistoe and vasbyt until the work permit plops into your postbox.
c. Any box where papers, etc., are left for collection.
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1960 G. 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’.
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.
1991 R. Deacon Brit. Secret Service (rev. ed.) 102 British agents, supplied with cash, had to be sent to Prague and Carlsbad to organize espionage centres and to act as a post-box for intelligence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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