Meaning of "snail-mail" in the English dictionary

PRONUNCIATION OF SNAIL-MAIL

snail-mail  [sneɪl meɪl]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SNAIL-MAIL

Snail-Mail is a verb.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb snail-mail in English.

WHAT DOES SNAIL-MAIL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Snail mail

Snail mail or smail —named after the snail with its slow speed—refers to letters and missives carried by conventional postal delivery services. Also named after the "snail-trail" used to glue the envelope. The phrase refers to the lag-time between dispatch of a letter and its receipt, versus the virtually instantaneous dispatch and delivery of its electronic equivalent, e-mail. It is also known, more neutrally, as paper mail, postal mail, land mail, or simply mail and post. An earlier term of the same type is surface mail, coined retrospectively after the development of airmail. This happened between the 1970s to 1990s. Snail mail penpals are those penpals that communicate with one another through the postal system, rather than on the internet which has become the more common medium. Some online groups also use paper mail through regular gift or craft hot topics. In some countries, services are available to print and deliver emails to those unable to receive email, like people with no computers or internet access. Similar terminology was used in the 1840s to contrast the already-operating postal mail with the new telegraph.

Definition of snail-mail in the English dictionary

The definition of snail-mail in the dictionary is to send by the conventional postal system, rather than by electronic mail.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO SNAIL-MAIL

PRESENT

Present

I snail-mail

you snail-mail

he/she/it snail-mails

we snail-mail

you snail-mail

they snail-mail

Present continuous

I am snail-mailing

you are snail-mailing

he/she/it is snail-mailing

we are snail-mailing

you are snail-mailing

they are snail-mailing

Present perfect

I have snail-mailed

you have snail-mailed

he/she/it has snail-mailed

we have snail-mailed

you have snail-mailed

they have snail-mailed

Present perfect continuous

I have been snail-mailing

you have been snail-mailing

he/she/it has been snail-mailing

we have been snail-mailing

you have been snail-mailing

they have been snail-mailing

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I snail-mailed

you snail-mailed

he/she/it snail-mailed

we snail-mailed

you snail-mailed

they snail-mailed

Past continuous

I was snail-mailing

you were snail-mailing

he/she/it was snail-mailing

we were snail-mailing

you were snail-mailing

they were snail-mailing

Past perfect

I had snail-mailed

you had snail-mailed

he/she/it had snail-mailed

we had snail-mailed

you had snail-mailed

they had snail-mailed

Past perfect continuous

I had been snail-mailing

you had been snail-mailing

he/she/it had been snail-mailing

we had been snail-mailing

you had been snail-mailing

they had been snail-mailing

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will snail-mail

you will snail-mail

he/she/it will snail-mail

we will snail-mail

you will snail-mail

they will snail-mail

Future continuous

I will be snail-mailing

you will be snail-mailing

he/she/it will be snail-mailing

we will be snail-mailing

you will be snail-mailing

they will be snail-mailing

Future perfect

I will have snail-mailed

you will have snail-mailed

he/she/it will have snail-mailed

we will have snail-mailed

you will have snail-mailed

they will have snail-mailed

Future perfect continuous

I will have been snail-mailing

you will have been snail-mailing

he/she/it will have been snail-mailing

we will have been snail-mailing

you will have been snail-mailing

they will have been snail-mailing

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would snail-mail

you would snail-mail

he/she/it would snail-mail

we would snail-mail

you would snail-mail

they would snail-mail

Conditional continuous

I would be snail-mailing

you would be snail-mailing

he/she/it would be snail-mailing

we would be snail-mailing

you would be snail-mailing

they would be snail-mailing

Conditional perfect

I would have snail-mail

you would have snail-mail

he/she/it would have snail-mail

we would have snail-mail

you would have snail-mail

they would have snail-mail

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been snail-mailing

you would have been snail-mailing

he/she/it would have been snail-mailing

we would have been snail-mailing

you would have been snail-mailing

they would have been snail-mailing

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you snail-mail
we let´s snail-mail
you snail-mail

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to snail-mail

Past participle

snail-mailed

Present Participle

snail-mailing

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

TRANSLATION OF SNAIL-MAIL

Find out the translation of snail-mail to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of snail-mail from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «snail-mail» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 蜗牛邮件
• Translator English - Spanish: caracol -mail
• English: snail-mail
• Translator English - Hindi: घोंघा मेल
• Translator English - Arabic: الحلزون الإلكتروني
• Translator English - Russian: Улитка почты
• Translator English - Portuguese: caracol -mail
• Translator English - Bengali: শামুক-মেইল
• Translator English - French: escargot -mail
• Translator English - Malay: surat Siput
• Translator English - German: Snail-Mail
• Translator English - Japanese: カタツムリメール
• Translator English - Korean: 달팽이 메일
• Translator English - Javanese: Snail-mail
• Translator English - Vietnamese: ốc -mail
• Translator English - Tamil: நத்தை-மெயில்
• Translator English - Marathi: गोगलगाय मेल
• Translator English - Turkish: salyangoz-posta
• Translator English - Italian: snail -mail
• Translator English - Polish: Ślimak -mail
• Translator English - Ukrainian: Равлик пошти
• Translator English - Romanian: melc -mail
• Translator English - Greek: σαλιγκάρι -mail
• Translator English - Afrikaans: slak -pos
• Translator English - Swedish: snigel- post
• Translator English - Norwegian: snail-mail

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SNAIL-MAIL»

Discover the use of snail-mail in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to snail-mail and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Snail Mail No More

Now that they live in different cities, thirteen-year-old Tara and Elizabeth use email to "talk" about everything that is occuring in their lives and to try to maintain their closeness as they face big changes.

Paula Danziger, Ann M. Martin, 2000

Snail Mail My Email: Handwritten Letters in a Digital World

Snail Mail My Email is a collection of the most memorable letters and moments from the project, and a reminder of the power of personal connection in a world of instant communication.

Ivan Cash, 2012

What Is Snail Mail?: The Lost Art of Letterwriting

This book also is a resource for where to find pen pals on the internet and off line resources such as news letters, magaizines etc.

Tamara Stevens, 2004

Snail Mail

A snail changes its eating habits, settling on the mail in the mail box until becoming too fond of the homeowner for that.

Hazel Edwards, 1991

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume

Snail. Mail. If you have plenty of time before the application deadline, the U.S. Postal Service (fondly referred to as snail mail) is a great and fairly reliable way to send your resume and ...

Susan Ireland, 2003

101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site: Filled with Proven ...

It is perceived as being more personal than snail mail and can go quite a long way in building relationships. E-mail Program versus Mail List Software The time has come where mail list software is essential for sending mass, permission- based ...

Susan Sweeney, 2006

Implementing Email and Security Tokens: Current Standards, ...

Table 2-2 Snail Mail and Email Process Similarities STEP SNAIL MAIL EMAIL Compose Alice pulls out pen and paper and writes her letter. Alice either starts a dedicated email application or a web browser to compose her email message.

Sean Turner, Russ Housley, 2008

The Fine Artist's Guide to Marketing and Self-Promotion: ...

the snail mail no more than thirty days unless otherwise requested or determined by the local postmaster, who may make exceptions. You must present an I.D. to receive the mail. If you were to have an exhibit in, for example, Tampa, Florida, ...

Julius Vitali, 2003

Everyday Letters for Busy People: Hundreds of Samples You ...

Hundreds of Samples You Can Adapt at a Moment's Notice : Invitations and Resignations, Complaints and Condolences, E-mail and Snail Mail, and More Debra Hart May, Regina McAloney ...

Debra Hart May, Regina McAloney, 2004

Morphology and Its Demarcations: Selected Papers from the ...

Reconsidering the example in (18), snail mail, we can verify that the non-head snail retains only one feature of its meaning in isolation, namely, slowness. All the remaining encyclopaedic features associated with snail (e.g. the fact that snails ...

Wolfgang U. Dressler, 2005

2 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SNAIL-MAIL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term snail-mail is used in the context of the following news items.

Snail-mail the solution to slow Silicon Valley vote tallies?

SAN JOSE -- Santa Clara County is thinking snail-mail might be the answer to Silicon Valley's sluggish election result tallies. More than three out of four Santa ... «San Jose Mercury News, Nov 14»

Jimmy Carter uses 'snail-mail' to thwart NSA

Carter said that he resorts to old-fashion snail mail to try to thwart the prying eyes of the National Security Agency, whose massive data-collection program was ... «New York Post, Mar 14»