mail (redirected from Postal mail)

mail: see postal service.

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chain mail

 or mail

Turkish coat of chain mail, 16th century

(credit: Courtesy of The John Woodman Higgins Armoury Museum)

Form of body armour worn by European knights and other medieval warriors. An early form, made by sewing iron rings to fabric or leather, was worn in late Roman times and may have originated in Asia. Medieval armourers interlaced the rings, which were closed by welding or riveting. In the 8th century, mail was a short coat with a separate sleeve for the sword arm. By the Norman Conquest (1066), the coat was long and fully sleeved; a hood, usually fitting under a helmet, covered the head and neck. By the 12th century, mail was fitted to hands, feet, and legs. The addition of plates to increase chest and back protection gradually evolved in the 14th century into complete plate armour, displacing mail.

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mail

(1) Synonymous with e-mail when dealing with computer applications.

(2) (Mail) The e-mail client that comes with the Mac OS X operating system. Mail is a full-featured e-mail client that integrates to-do lists and notes as of OS X 10.5 and support for Microsoft Exchange as of OS X 10.6. Mail originally came from NeXTMail, the mail application in the NextStep operating system that evolved into Mac OS X. See NextStep and e-mail program.

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mail

the hard protective shell of such animals as the turtle and lobster

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(messaging)

mail - 1. electronic mail. 2. The Berkeley Unix program for composing and reading electronic mail. It normally uses sendmail to handle delivery. Unix manual page: mail(1)