diplomatic pouch
7
7.1
- noun
- /ˌdɪpləˈmætɪk paʊtʃ/
- Specialized
:
bolsa diplomática
- A diplomatic pouch carries official correspondence that cannot be searched by customs officials.
- carry a diplomatic pouch
Examples
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As he put me to bed, Nevins said that something had already come for me in the diplomatic pouch.
Fiction book (1998) -
After dropping the break-in specialists off at their hotel, the driver took the photographs to the U.S. Embassy, where they were sent to CIA headquarters by diplomatic pouch.
Blog text (28) -
And then one day, he returned with his first diplomatic pouch.
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That came for you from London in the plane, in the diplomatic pouch.
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From the Spanish Embassy in London, by diplomatic pouch.
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Diplomatic pouch, overnight from London.
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That is a diplomatic pouch... ...protected under Article 27 of the Vienna Convention.
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The diplomatic pouch arrived.
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The Foreign Press Bureau of the CPI sent her daily news summaries through the diplomatic pouch and naval intelligence communications.
Academic text (2002) -
A week later, in the British embassy in Paris, Mr. James Somerset, attache to the ambassador, smoothed the pages of two letters he had received that morning by diplomatic pouch.
Fiction book (1990)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'diplomatic pouch' is compositionally clear at a basic level: a pouch/bag related to diplomatic activity, so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a bag used by diplomats. However, the crucial sense that such pouches have special legal protection from search under international law is specialised world knowledge not derivable from the constituent meanings alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The noun diplomatic pouch comes from the old practice of diplomats sending a sealed pouch with a trusted messenger so border officers would not open it. So today it means 'a container used by diplomats for official papers that is protected from search'.