‖ [ F., shaded enamel. ] (Fine Arts) An art or process of flooding transparent colored glaze over designs stamped or molded on earthenware or porcelain. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OE. for amel, enamel. ] To figure or variegate. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Black + mail a piece of money. ] 1. A certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, or moss troopers, to be by them protected from pillage. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eng. Law) Black rent, or rent paid in corn, flesh, or the lowest coin, a opposed to “white rent”, which paid in silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

To levy blackmail, to extort money by threats, as of injury to one's reputation. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blackmailed p. pr. & vb. n. Blackmailing. ] To extort money from by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation, distress of mind, etc.; as, to blackmail a merchant by threatening to expose an alleged fraud. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who extorts, or endeavors to extort, money, by black mailing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or practice of extorting money by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. camail (cf. It. camaglio), fr. L. caput head + source of E. mail. ] 1. (Ancient Armor) A neck guard of chain mall, hanging from the bascinet or other headpiece. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hood of other material than mail; esp. (Eccl.), a hood worn in church services, -- the amice, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] (Fort.) An indented or zigzaged line of intrenchment. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. dis- + mail: cf. OF. desmaillier. ] To divest of coat of mail. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Computers) 1. a message transmitted from one computer to another, accessible by means of a mail reading program on the receiving computer. The message may have one or many intended recipients, and may be directed by the sending program to one or to multiple receiving computers. The message is typically in the form of a computer file, and may be a simple ASCII text, or any other type of binary coded information
Syn. -- email. [ PJC ]

n. electronic mail; a digitally encoded message sent from one computer to another through an electronic communications medium, especially by means of a computer network.
Syn. -- electronic mail. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. E-mailed p. pr. & vb. n. E-mailing. ] to send (an e-mail message) to someone; as, I emailed the article to the editor; she emailed me her report.
Syn. -- mail electronically. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Finance) The act, performed by a publicly traded corporation, of paying a corporate raider to give up a takeover attempt, by buying the shares of stock he owns; also, the threat posed by corporate raiders to take over a company unless their stocks are purchased by the company at a price giving them a large profit. [ Informal ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Wearing mail or armor; clad of armor. W. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. limer to file. See Limation. ] Filings of metal. [ Obs. ] “An ounce . . . of silver lymaille.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Limaille. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A spot. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. maille, OF. also maaille, LL. medalia. See Medal. ] 1. A small piece of money; especially, an English silver half-penny of the time of Henry V. [ Obs. ] [ Written also maile, and maille. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Rent; tribute. [ Obs., except in certain compounds and phrases, as blackmail, mails and duties, etc. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Mail and duties (Scots Law), the rents of an estate, in whatever form paid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. maile, maille, F. maille a ring of mail, mesh, network, a coat of mail, fr. L. macula spot, a mesh of a net. Cf. Macle, Macula, Mascle. ] 1. A flexible fabric made of metal rings interlinked. It was used especially for defensive armor. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Chain mail,
Coat of mail. See under Chain, and Coat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence generally, armor, or any defensive covering. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

We . . . strip the lobster of his scarlet mail. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To arm with mail. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To pinion. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. male bag, OF. male, F. malle bag, trunk, mail, OHG. malaha, malha, wallet; akin to D. maal, male; cf. Gael. & Ir. mala, Gr. molgo`s hide, skin. ] 1. A bag; a wallet. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The bag or bags with the letters, papers, or other matter contained therein, conveyed under public authority from one post office to another; the whole system of appliances used by government in the conveyance and delivery of mail matter. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a mail come in to-day, with letters dated Hague. Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which comes in the mail; letters, etc., received through the post office. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried. [ Obs. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mail catcher, an iron rod, or other contrivance, attached to a railroad car for catching a mail bag while the train is in motion. --
Mail guard, an officer whose duty it is to guard the public mails. [ Eng. ] --
Mail train, a railroad train carrying the mail. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Mailed p. pr. & vb. n. Mailing. ] To deliver into the custody of the postoffice officials, or place in a government letter box, for transmission by mail; to post; as, to mail a letter. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the United States to mail and to post are both in common use; as, to mail or post a letter. In England post is the commoner usage. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Admissible lawfully into the mail. Opposed to non-mailable. Dangerous items such as explosives, weapons, or corrosive chemicals are often classified by the postal authorities as non-mailable. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. A bag in which mailed matter is conveyed or shipped under public authority.
Syn. -- mail pouch. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A letter carrier's shoulder bag; as, in England they call a mailbag a postbag.
Syn. -- postbag. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a boat that carries the mail.
Syn. -- mail boat, packet, packet boat. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A public box for deposit of mail, where it is later picked up by the postal authority for delivery.
Syn. -- postbox, letter box. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A private box to recieve delivery of mail. The term is used both for boxes receiving mail delivered by the public postal authority, or by a private services, such as for mail to employees in large corporations.
Syn. -- letter box. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

3. (Computers) A location within a computer storage device where electronic mail is held until it is retrieved by the addressee. Creation and use of an electronic mailbox requires special software as well as a data storage device. [ PJC ]

n. A call of the names of those persons receiving mail for the purpose of transmitting mail to them; -- a technique used in the military services to deliver mail to enlisted personnel. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A railway car of special design used for the transportation and sorting of mail en route to its destination, and having employees of the post office inside to perform those functions. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A person who delivers the mail; -- also called a letter carrier. A male mail carrier is also called a mailman.
Syn. -- postman, letter carrier, carrier, mailman. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

a. Protected by a coat of mail; clad in armor. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A clerk in a post office.
Syn. -- postal clerk. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. (Zool.) Protected by an external coat, or covering, of scales or plates. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See 1st Mail. ] Spotted; speckled. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The use of the mails to defraud someone. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Scot., fr. mail tribute, rent. See 2d Mail. ] A farm. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or process of sending materials through the mail. [ PJC ]

2. A quantity of mail, such as letters, magazines, advertising brochures, etc., sent at one time by one person or organization; as, the ads with coupons will go out in our next mailing. [ PJC ]

n. The postal address where a maile can be addressed to a person or organization. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A list of names and addresses to which advertising, solicitations of money, or other materials material sent in large quantities is mailed; -- it is usually used by comercial or charitable organizations. Mailing lists are often sold by organizations to other organizations, and are frequently used for targeted mailing, i. e., mailing to groups of people who are more likely htan the general population to respond as desired to the message in the mail. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A woman's one-piece bathing suit.
Syn. -- tank suit. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. for dancers or gymnasts. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A man who delivers the mail. A male mail carrier.
Syn. -- postman, mail carrier, letter carrier, carrier. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The buying and selling of goods to be shipped from the vendor through the mail to the purchaser. Information about to be purchased may be found in catalogs, advertisements, on the web, etc., and purchase orders transmitted to the vendor by mail, telephone, or internet connection. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. Same as mailbag. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) A chiton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A usually horizontal slot in a door through which mail can be delivered. It often has a hinged cover to keep the opening cloised when not in use. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A machine that sorts mail, according to the address. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A railroad train that carries mail. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Sea + (perhaps) Mall Mally, for Mary; hence, Prov. E. mally a hare. ] (Zool.) A gull; the mew. [ 1913 Webster ]