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Showing results for mailboat. Search instead for Mail+boat.

mailboat

American  
[meyl-boht] / ˈmeɪlˌboʊt /
Or mail boat

noun

  1. a boat for transporting mail.


Etymology

Origin of mailboat

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; mail 1 + boat

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Others are blue-collar communities whose lifeblood depends on fishing, farming and the groceries and fuel delivered by a weekly mailboat that is nowhere to be seen.

From Washington Post • Sep. 8, 2019

In July 1871 Morris and three companions, one of them the Icelandic scholar Eiríkr Magnússon, travelled by Danish mailboat from Edinburgh's Granton harbour to Reykjavík, a four-day journey.

From The Guardian • Mar. 27, 2010

The seas' ruler, he gazed southward over the bay, empty save for the smokeplume of the mailboat vague on the bright skyline and a sail tacking by the Muglins.

From Ulysses by Joyce, James

The homeward bound mailboat arrived before Rideau the next day, and when she stopped at the first port connected by cable, Maxwell despatched a message to London: "Wire Hyslop to meet me by Malemba."

From The League of the Leopard by Bindloss, Harold

It was towards the end of the afternoon when the skipper of the West-coast mailboat, peering through his glasses, made out two palms that rose apparently straight out of the sea.

From For Jacinta by Bindloss, Harold