postbag

3.9

A large bag that a mail worker carries for letters and parcels

noun
/ˈmoʊlˌbæɡ/

: saco de correo

She handed the heavy postbag to her colleague at the start of the shift.

Examples

The postman slung the postbag over his shoulder as he began his route.
The postman carried a postbag full of letters.
Letters spilled out of the cracked leather postbag after years of loyal service.
I saw the postbag sitting on the table.
The postal worker filled her postbag with letters and packages early in the morning.
He returned home after a long day, his postbag heavy with deliveries.
She found an unexpected letter in her postbag when she got back from work.

Synonyms

mailbag

vspostbag

1 2.0

A large strong bag for carrying letters and packages

is the British term rather than the American name for this bag

mail pouch

vspostbag

1 3.7

A large strong bag that carries mail for delivery

is a general term not limited to bulk carriage or delivery services

How Big

sack

117 1.0

postbag

3.9

satchel

28 2.5

pouch

72 2.1

Surface Forms

postbag singular

postbags plural

mailbags plural

mailbag singular

Morphology

postbag = post + bag (transparent) = post + bag

The word 'postbag' is a clear combination of 'post' and 'bag', indicating a bag used for carrying mail.

Etymology

Postbag comes from post (meaning 'mail') and bag (meaning 'a sack'), so it is literally a bag for letters and parcels. The post part comes from old 'posts', places where riders changed horses and passed on messages, which is how post came to mean the mail service. In American English the same kind of bag is often called a mailbag.