post office

noun

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of post office

1 : a government department or agency handling the transmission of mail

2 : a local branch of a national post office handling the mail for a particular place or area

3 : a game in which a player acting as postmaster or postmistress may exact a kiss from one of the opposite sex as payment for the pretended delivery of a letter

See post office defined for English-language learners

See post office defined for kids

Recent Examples of post office from the Web

Their products are found atop hotels and stores, and in front of police stations and post offices.

— carl nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, "Flagpole firm withstands winds of change," 7 Apr. 2018
The man running our country couldn’t even get a job at the post office.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Trump’s Advisers Have Tried to Teach Him How the Post Office Works but He Won’t Believe It," 6 Apr. 2018
Voter registration applications are available online; at the Tarrant County Elections Administration, 2700 Premier St.; and at subcourthouses, city halls, libraries and post offices.

— anna m. tinsley, star-telegram, "Here's what House Speaker Paul Ryan said about working with the Senate | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 6 Apr. 2018
Trump is contemplating prosaic government government functions like the defense budget, the post office, and good old federalist-state government to bring Bezos to heel.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Milton Friedman Predicted Socialism Would Kill Democracy. Instead, Trump Is.," 3 Apr. 2018
The post office charges some of the world's lowest stamp prices.

— bloomberg, latimes.com, "Trump renews attack on Amazon, calling its shipping deal with Postal Service a 'scam' that must end," 31 Mar. 2018
Every morning, vendors line up at the post office to ship products to customers' homes.

— paul takahashi, Houston Chronicle, "The Houston Rodeo is so big, it has its own post office," 8 Mar. 2018
This could be someone at the post office … someone at the grocery store.

— CBS News, "Afraid of the Dark: Texas woman seeks justice in childhood kidnapping, attack," 4 Mar. 2018
Gaston said the post office truck hit the Hoover bus.

— anna beahm, AL.com, "Postal truck crashes into Hoover school bus; no one injured," 27 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'post office.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of post office

1652

See Words from the same year

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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POST OFFICE Defined for English Language Learners

post office

noun

Definition of post office for English Language Learners

: a building where the mail for a local area is sent and received
the Post Office : the government department in charge of collecting and delivering mail