📬 To collect letters 💻 To download emails

to fetch the mail

3.4

To get new email messages from a mail server to your device

phrasal verb

Specialized

: descargar el correo

The mail client will fetch the mail every ten minutes to check for new messages.

Examples

The administrator scheduled a script to fetch the mail from the shared account each morning.
After rebooting, her phone began to fetch the mail and show several unread emails.
I need to fetch the mail from the server.
Can you fetch the mail for me?
The mail client will fetch the mail every ten minutes to check for new messages.
After rebooting, her phone began to fetch the mail and show several unread emails.
The administrator scheduled a script to fetch the mail from the shared account each morning.

Synonyms

to fetch

vsto fetch the mail

Specialized

6 4.9

To ask another computer for data and get it back

is specific to retrieving electronic messages rather than any other data type

Surface Forms

fetch the mail infinitive

fetched the mail past

fetched the mail past participle

fetching the mail present participle

fetches the mail third person singular

Morphology

fetch + the + mail

The meaning 'to retrieve electronic mail' is directly derivable from combining 'fetch' (to go obtain and return with something) with 'mail' (email), following a basic verb + object composition. Although the computing sense is a technological extension, the relation is transparent and predictable for learners who know both constituents.

Etymology

Fetch the mail in email comes from the same idea: a program goes to an online box, gathers the new mail, and brings it to your phone or computer. So, it means 'to retrieve electronic mail'.