喜樂美語

這個拼法底下其實是2個不同的字，意思沒有關係， 只是長得一樣。下面分開列出來。跳到 letters and packages · chain mail (armour)

1

mail

n, v

You can picture mail as the stack of letters and packages that travel to and from you. From that stack the word spreads in three easy steps: the things themselves, the system that carries them, and the modern electronic version — plus the verb 'to mail' is simply putting something into that delivery stream.

可以把 mail 想成那一疊往返於你和別人之間的信件和包裹。從這疊東西出發，這個字很自然地擴張：那些東西本身、運送它們的整套系統、以及現代的電子版本；而動詞 mail 不過就是把某樣東西丟進這條遞送的流程裡。

A second word, same spelling

2

mail

n

This is a different word that just happens to be spelled the same: mail as armour — a shirt of tiny metal rings linked into a flexible mesh that old soldiers wore. Think of a net of iron, not of letters; it has nothing to do with the post.

這其實是另一個剛好同拼法的字：當盔甲講的 mail——古代士兵穿的、由無數小鐵環扣成一片有彈性的鐵網。可以想成一張鐵做的網，跟信件、郵政完全沒關係。

From the word’s history

From Old French 'maille' (a mesh/loop of a net), from Latin 'macula' (a spot, or the mesh of a net) — a wholly separate root from postal 'mail' (Old French 'male', a travelling bag).

源自古法語 maille（網眼、網環），再上溯拉丁語 macula（斑點、網的網眼）——和郵政的 mail（來自古法語 male，旅行用的袋子）是完全不同的字源。

Oxford English Dictionary / Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), s.v. mail (armour)

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

同家族的字

n複數 mail

v過去式 mailed過去分詞 mailed-ing mailing三單 mails

意思相近

postcorrespondencesendlettersdispatchpostal serviceshipemaile-mailforwardmessage

意思相反

receive

意思相近

chain mailarmourarmor

原始詞典資料24 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

mailnoun詞源 1/meɪl/

  • 1

    regionalA bag or wallet.

    • What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale; / A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male!
    • Open the Males, yet guard the treaſure ſure. Lay out our golden wedges to the view, That their reflexions may amaze the Perſeans.
  • 2

    A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.

  • 3

    The (physical) material conveyed by the postal service.

    • Meronym: mailpiece
    • Don't forget to pick up the mail on your way.
  • 4

    The (physical) material conveyed by the postal service.

    • It should be in your mail today, unless the post office lost it!
  • 5

    datedA stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.

    • All trains stop at all stations, with the exception of a few "local" stations near Mombasa and an odd flag stop or two usually missed by the mails.
    • On the morning after the one-day strike, October 4, one of the Type 4s on crew-training, No. D169, was appropriated to head the 3 a.m. mail to Hull, as no steam locomotive had been lit up and the usual Hull Type 3 was not available; [...].
  • 6

    The postal service or system in general.

    • He decided to send his declaration by mail.
  • 7

    Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages.

    • Yahoo Mail has been providing mail service since 1997.
  • 8

    Email messages conceived in bulk (as with the analogous sense of physical mail).

    • You've got mail [old audio clip announcing new email in the 1990s-2000s]
另外 2 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    An email message.

    • Please look through those mails and confirm whether you received the one about scheduling.
  • 10

    A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.

    • “Fetch me the little private mail with the padlocks, that I recommended to your particular charge — d'ye hear?”

mailverb詞源 1/meɪl/

  • 1

    To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.

  • 2

    To send by electronic mail.

    • Please mail me the spreadsheet by the end of the day.
    • There has been a crackdown on non-ARPA use of a local ARPA gateway, so I am reluctant to attempt to mail the file to ARPA sites.
  • 3

    To contact (a person) by electronic mail.

    • I need to mail my tutor about the deadline.
    • I was horrified but my data was OK. Then, it saw it open my e-mail package and start to mail my friends. I turned the power off.

mailnoun詞源 2/meɪl/

  • 1

    historyhuman-sciencessciencesArmour consisting of metal rings linked together.

    • The knight is laid in his mail, only the hands and face being bare.
    • "That's funny looking mail, Sire," said Eustace. "Aye, lad," said Tirian. "No Narnian dwarf smithied that. […]
  • 2

    fantasyfictionliteratureArmour consisting of small plates linked together.

  • 3

    nauticaltransportA contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.

  • 4

    Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.

    • We […] strip the lobster of his scarlet mail.
    • There beryl, pearl, and opal pale, / And metal wrought like fishes' mail, / Buckler and corslet, axe and sword, / And shining spears were laid in hoard.
  • 5

    obsoleterareA spot on a bird's feather; by extension, a spotted feather.

    • [T]he moorish-fly: made with the body of duskish wool; and the wings made of the blackish mail of the drake.

mailverb詞源 2/meɪl/

  • 1

    To arm with mail.

  • 2

    To pinion.

mailnoun詞源 3/meɪl/

  • 1

    historicalAn old French coin worth half a denier.

  • 2

    A monetary payment or tribute.

  • 3

    Rent.

  • 4

    Tax.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。