postal









postal


postal [pohs-tl] Word Origin adjective

  1. of or relating to the post office or mail service: postal delivery; postal employees.

noun

  1. Informal. postal card.

Idioms

  1. go postal, Slang. to lose control or go crazy, especially in a violent way.

Origin of postal 1835–45; post3 + -al1; def. 3 in reference to incidents of violence among postal workers in the early 1990sRelated formspost·al·ly, adverb British Dictionary definitions for go postal postal adjective

  1. of or relating to a Post Office or to the mail-delivery service

Derived Formspostally, adverb Word Origin and History for go postal postal adj.

“pertaining to the mail system,” 1843, on model of French postale (1836), from post (n.3). Noun meaning “state of irrational and violent anger” (usually in phrase going postal) attested by 1997, in reference to a cluster of news-making workplace shootings in U.S. by what were commonly described as “disgruntled postal workers” (the cliche itself, though not the phrase, goes back at least to 1994).

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