mail order
20
2.1
- noun
- /meɪl ˈɔrdər/
:
venta por catálogo
- We ship to retail outlets as well as sell through mail order catalogs and an Internet website.
- mail-order bride
- mail-order catalog
- mail-order company
He had sex shops and a mail order business, which was like literally tearing a coupon out of a magazine and posting off what you wanted.
- He had sex shops and a mail order business, which was like literally tearing a coupon out of a magazine and posting off what you wanted.
- And she would try to fill those orders sort of like a mail order sort of arrangement.
- If the post office didn't or the customs didn't keep it and the mail order from Scandinavia and they, they brought in most of it really, really bad stuff.
- Whether it's mail order houses that Sears sent all over the country and dedicated aficionados are trying to find and list out every single one.
Examples
-
Jesse had seen it offered in mail order catalogs.
Fiction book (1994) -
By 1982, we had started a small mail-order company, and we did, like, a million dollars' worth of sales.
-
And she would try to fill those orders sort of like a mail order sort of arrangement.
-
Mail order houses will supply you with the necessary ingredients and tools of the trade.
-
This is a mail order college, isn't it?
-
- Actually I buy my lingerie mail order.
-
The whites obtained smoked meats from a mail order company.
Academic text (2017) -
I'm continually surprised by the variety of herbs available today, by mail order and in local garden centers.
Blog text (6) -
Prominent on the workbench was Patrick's mail-order microscope he'd laboriously assembled from a kit.
Fiction book (1997) -
Our family enjoys shopping, especially when we place mail order requests for books from our favorite catalog.
Synonyms
Buying things from a catalog or website that come to your home
Buying goods from a catalog sent by mail to your home
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'buying or selling goods by mail' is directly and transparently derivable from combining 'mail' (postal system) and 'order' (a customer's request for goods). This noun–noun compositional pattern (order made/fulfilled via the mail) is common and likely obvious to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Mail order comes from the old practice of choosing goods from a paper catalog and sending an order through the mail so the seller would post the item back to you. That's why it means buying or selling things 'by mail' instead of in a shop.