POST OFFICE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Post Office mean? 

• POST OFFICE (noun)
  The noun POST OFFICE has 3 senses:

1. a local branch where postal services are available

2. an independent agency of the federal government responsible for mail delivery (and sometimes telecommunications) between individuals and businesses in the United States

3. a children's game in which kisses are exchanged for pretended letters

  Familiarity information: POST OFFICE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POST OFFICE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A local branch where postal services are available

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

local post office; post office

Hypernyms ("post office" is a kind of...):

arm; branch; subdivision (a division of some larger or more complex organization)

Meronyms (parts of "post office"):

general delivery; poste restante (the part of a post office that handles mail for persons who call for it)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An independent agency of the federal government responsible for mail delivery (and sometimes telecommunications) between individuals and businesses in the United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

PO; Post Office; United States Post Office; US Post Office

Hypernyms ("Post Office" is a kind of...):

independent agency (an agency of the United States government that is created by an act of Congress and is independent of the executive departments)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A children's game in which kisses are exchanged for pretended letters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("post office" is a kind of...):

child's game (a game enjoyed by children)

 Context examples 

I thought it might have become shredded in the post office machinery due to the very thin paper of the envelope she had sent me with her address on it.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

And you don’t know his address? No—except that it was Leadenhall Street. Where did you address your letters, then? To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called for.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Here's a note to you, Meg, all sealed up. How odd! Teddy never seals mine," said Jo next day, as she distributed the contents of the little post office.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It appears to me, that what Mr. Micawber has to do, in justice to himself, in justice to his family, and I will even go so far as to say in justice to society, by which he has been hitherto overlooked, is to advertise in all the papers; to describe himself plainly as so-and-so, with such and such qualifications and to put it thus: “Now employ me, on remunerative terms, and address, post-paid, to W. M., Post Office, Camden Town.””

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The post office, couriers and express delivery services like FedEx, UPS, and DHL are also ruled by the winged messenger and see the effects when Mercury goes out of phase.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

How they laughed when the secret came out, never dreaming how many love letters that little post office would hold in the years to come.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If Mr. T. should ever reply to it (which I cannot but feel to be most improbable), a letter addressed to M. E., Post Office, Canterbury, will be fraught with less painful consequences than any addressed immediately to one, who subscribes herself, in extreme distress, Mr. Thomas Traddles's respectful friend and suppliant

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Now, five months later, the post office delivered my letter to her—all chewed up by the machinery as I had suspected, it was encased in a special post office envelope. (The post office is ruled by Mercury.) You simply can’t make this up.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The P. O. was a capital little institution, and flourished wonderfully, for nearly as many queer things passed through it as through the real post office.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Two letters for Doctor Jo, a book, and a funny old hat, which covered the whole post office and stuck outside," said Beth, laughing as she went into the study where Jo sat writing.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)