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out-basket

out-basket

3.6
A tray on a desk for holding letters and papers to send
  • noun
  • /ˈaʊtˌbæskɪt/
  • US
translation icon : bandeja de salida
  • After reviewing the documents, he set them in the out-basket on his desk.

Examples

  • You drop the finished job in your out basket and pick up another envelope.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • E-Ringer, I'll check my out-basket in the morning.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • She placed the final report in the out-basket for the mailroom to collect.

  • He checked the out-basket to ensure all outgoing mail was ready for dispatch.

Synonyms

outbox
vsout-basket
1 3.4

A folder where outgoing emails or messages wait to be sent

is limited to the physical desk container for outgoing documents or mail
out-tray
vsout-basket
  • UK
4.1

A tray on a desk where you put papers to send out

is specifically the desk container for outgoing documents or mail

Antonyms

1 3.2

A tray on a desk for holding incoming papers or mail

Surface Forms

out-basket singular
out-baskets plural

Morphology

out-basket = basket (transparent) = out + basket

The meaning is a literal compound: a basket for outgoing items (documents/mail), directly inferable from 'out' + 'basket'. [Postprocessing: moved 'out' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Out-basket is made from out-, meaning 'going out', and basket, a container for holding things, so it originally meant a tray for items that leave the desk. That's why an out-basket is the tray where finished mail or papers wait to be sent, like a physical version of an email outbox.