mailbox
mailbox Lexical Profile
mailbox Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A private or public receptacle for receiving incoming mail or depositing outgoing letters and small packages.
"Every morning, she walked to the end of the driveway to check the mailbox for letters from her family."
An electronic folder or digital space where emails or digital messages are received, stored, and organized.
"Upon returning from his vacation, he found over five hundred unread messages waiting in his mailbox."
Word Nuance & Usage
In North American English, 'mailbox' applies to both personal receiving boxes and public drop-off boxes, whereas British English tends to distinguish between a 'letterbox' (private) and a 'postbox' or 'pillar box' (public).
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the United States in the mid-19th century as a compound of 'mail' (from Old French 'male', meaning bag or pouch) and 'box' (from Old English 'box', ultimately from Latin 'buxus').
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.