poste restante
1
9.8
- noun
:
correos generales
- During my trip, I had all my parcels sent to the poste restante instead of my hotel.
Examples
-
Still the same poste restante address in bavaria... but now she speaks of going to italy.
-
"Write to me in Antwerp, poste restante," she answered.
Fiction book (1991) -
I received my letters at the poste restante in Paris, where they were held for me.
-
She instructed her friends to send mail to the poste restante in Lisbon for easier collection.
Synonyms
7
3.4
A numbered box at a post office where you receive and collect your mail
7
3.1
A numbered box at a post office where you collect your mail
1
4.1
A post office service that holds mail for people to collect in person
A numbered box at a post office that people rent to receive mail
A numbered box in a post office where a person collects their mail
Surface Forms
Morphology
poste + restante
Although 'poste restante' is a French loan into English, its meaning is directly compositional: 'poste' (post/post office) + 'restante' (remaining) yields the idea of mail that remains at the post for collection. The construction is used across many languages (and has an English equivalent 'general delivery'), so a learner who knows the constituent meanings would readily infer the service meaning.
Etymology
Poste restante comes from French and literally shows poste ('post') and restante ('remaining'). In old times, travelers asked the post office to keep their letters there until they could pick them up. That's why poste restante now means 'mail kept at the post office for someone to collect'.