"mailbag" meaning in English

See mailbag in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈmeɪlˌbæɡ/ [General-American] Forms: mailbags [plural], mail bag [alternative]
Etymology: From mail + bag. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|mail|bag}} mail + bag Head templates: {{en-noun}} mailbag (plural mailbags)
  1. A strong canvas bag used for the transportation of mail. Synonyms: mailsack
    Sense id: en-mailbag-en-noun-HRzZYeva
  2. A smaller bag, slung from the shoulder, used by a mail carrier during the delivery of mail. Synonyms: postbag Hypernyms: bag, sack, poke
    Sense id: en-mailbag-en-noun-bItfnBr5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Bags Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 53 10 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 37 58 5 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 35 60 4 Disambiguation of Bags: 38 51 11
  3. (by extension, figurative) The correspondence received by a publishing entity such as a magazine or website. Tags: broadly, figuratively Coordinate_terms: mailbox, postbox, letter box, ;, postbox, post office box
    Sense id: en-mailbag-en-noun-aCbpQOvt
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mail",
        "3": "bag"
      },
      "expansion": "mail + bag",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From mail + bag.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mailbags",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mail bag",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "mailbag (plural mailbags)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "mail carrier"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "mailman"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "mailwoman"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              152,
              160
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1959 December, “New TPOs for the Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 581:",
          "text": "The communicating doors of adjoining vehicles are opened simultaneously by pressing a large push-button located a suitable height for a man loaded with mailbags to contact it with his shoulder; after a time-lag of seven seconds the doors close automatically.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A strong canvas bag used for the transportation of mail."
      ],
      "id": "en-mailbag-en-noun-HRzZYeva",
      "links": [
        [
          "bag",
          "bag"
        ],
        [
          "transportation",
          "transportation"
        ],
        [
          "mail",
          "mail"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mailsack"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "37 53 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "37 58 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "35 60 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 51 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bags",
          "orig": "en:Bags",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A smaller bag, slung from the shoulder, used by a mail carrier during the delivery of mail."
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "word": "bag"
        },
        {
          "word": "sack"
        },
        {
          "word": "poke"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-mailbag-en-noun-bItfnBr5",
      "links": [
        [
          "slung",
          "slung"
        ],
        [
          "shoulder",
          "shoulder"
        ],
        [
          "mail carrier",
          "mail carrier"
        ],
        [
          "delivery",
          "delivery"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "postbag"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "mailbox"
        },
        {
          "word": "postbox"
        },
        {
          "word": "letter box"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "postbox"
        },
        {
          "word": "post office box"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              7,
              14
            ]
          ],
          "text": "In our mailbag this month, we've got no less than 12 letters from those of you who think that Jones should not have been benched.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The correspondence received by a publishing entity such as a magazine or website."
      ],
      "id": "en-mailbag-en-noun-aCbpQOvt",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, figurative) The correspondence received by a publishing entity such as a magazine or website."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈmeɪlˌbæɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "mailbag"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Bags"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mail",
        "3": "bag"
      },
      "expansion": "mail + bag",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From mail + bag.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mailbags",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mail bag",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "mailbag (plural mailbags)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "mail carrier"
    },
    {
      "word": "mailman"
    },
    {
      "word": "mailwoman"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              152,
              160
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1959 December, “New TPOs for the Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 581:",
          "text": "The communicating doors of adjoining vehicles are opened simultaneously by pressing a large push-button located a suitable height for a man loaded with mailbags to contact it with his shoulder; after a time-lag of seven seconds the doors close automatically.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A strong canvas bag used for the transportation of mail."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "bag",
          "bag"
        ],
        [
          "transportation",
          "transportation"
        ],
        [
          "mail",
          "mail"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mailsack"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A smaller bag, slung from the shoulder, used by a mail carrier during the delivery of mail."
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "word": "bag"
        },
        {
          "word": "sack"
        },
        {
          "word": "poke"
        }
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "slung",
          "slung"
        ],
        [
          "shoulder",
          "shoulder"
        ],
        [
          "mail carrier",
          "mail carrier"
        ],
        [
          "delivery",
          "delivery"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "postbag"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "mailbox"
        },
        {
          "word": "postbox"
        },
        {
          "word": "letter box"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "postbox"
        },
        {
          "word": "post office box"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              7,
              14
            ]
          ],
          "text": "In our mailbag this month, we've got no less than 12 letters from those of you who think that Jones should not have been benched.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The correspondence received by a publishing entity such as a magazine or website."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, figurative) The correspondence received by a publishing entity such as a magazine or website."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈmeɪlˌbæɡ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "mailbag"
}

Download raw JSONL data for mailbag meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.