airmail

UK/ˈɛəɹ(ˌ)meɪl/US/ˈɛəɹ(ˌ)meɪl/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,659 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: airmails

Airmail is post carried abroad by aircraft. Send it airmail, an airmail envelope, by airmail.

The blue-edged envelope and the thin paper existed because weight decided the price, and a letter written on ordinary paper cost noticeably more to send. Almost all international post now flies, so the distinction has quietly disappeared.

Definitions of airmail

1nounairmailPost carried abroad by aircraft.B2+
“She sent the birthday card to Australia by airmail so it would arrive in time.”

airmail is a postal service.

Where it comes from

Air plus mail, from the 1920s, when the first regular flying post services began.

From air + mail.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Bank & Post Office

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airmail in the wild

The Universal Postal Union adopted comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 Postal Union Congress in London.
Airmail
Since the official language of the Universal Postal Union is French, airmail items worldwide are often marked Par avion, literally: "by airplane".
Airmail
An airmail etiquette, often shortened to just etiquette, is a label used to indicate that a letter is to be sent by airmail.
Airmail etiquette
Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail.
Air cargo
Denmark issued ten definitive airmail stamps between 1925 and 1934 in two distinct series.
Airmail stamps of Denmark

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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