mail pouch
- noun
- /meɪl paʊtʃ/
- His letters would always go out of Baghdad in the UN diplomatic mail pouch for New York.
Examples
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The postal worker carried a heavy mail pouch filled with letters and packages to deliver around the neighborhood.
-
She turned over the Priority Mail pouch on the coffee table.
Fiction book (1995) -
He opened his mail pouch to find numerous letters waiting to be sorted and delivered.
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She placed the mail pouch on the counter after returning from her delivery route.
Synonyms
A large bag made of paper, plastic or cloth for carrying things
A large strong bag for carrying letters and packages
A large bag that a mail worker carries for letters and parcels
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bag for carrying mail' is directly and compositionally derived from the constituent words 'mail' (postal items) and 'pouch' (a bag). Even if 'pouch' often implies a smaller bag, the combined phrase clearly denotes a container for mail and is cross-linguistically predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.
Etymology
The word mail pouch comes from the simple image of a bag that holds letters: mail, meaning letters and packages, put into a pouch, a strong, often sealed bag used by postmen or trains. That's why mail pouch now means 'a large, strong bag used to carry mail'.