Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An official mark printed over a postage stamp, especially one that cancels the stamp and records the date and place of mailing.
  • transitive verb To stamp with such a mark.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The mark or stamp of a post-office placed on a letter, paper, card, or package sent through the mail; an official stamp on a letter, etc., giving the place and date of sending or the place and date of receipt.
  • To affix the stamp or mark of the post-office to, as letters, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The mark, or stamp, of a post office on a letter, giving the place and date of mailing or of arrival.
  • transitive verb To mark with a post-office stamp.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A marking made by a postal service on a letter, package, postcard or the like, usually indicating the place where and the date and time when the item was received or processed for the first time, and often serving to cancel a postage stamp.
  • verb To apply a postmark on.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb stamp with a postmark to indicate date and time of mailing
  • noun a cancellation mark stamped on mail by postal officials; indicates the post office and date of mailing

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Another round of phone calls the next week got me as far as getting a rep smart enough in the law to admit that the postmark is what mattered, not the date of arrival, which was a good 5 or 6 days before the due date, but of course they did not retain envelopes as evidence of when I actually sent the cancellation notice.

    How A Forgotten Blockbuster Video Caused A 2 1/2 Year Battle With Discover Card And Collection Agencies - The Consumerist 2008

  • And finally, I managed to nearly finish my postcards for International Women's Day - all that remains to do is the satin stitch around the edges, and they can go off in the post this afternoon, with a March 8th postmark, which is appropriate, if slightly later than I have hoped to have them posted.

    Sewn but not blogged... katelnorth 2007

  • And finally, I managed to nearly finish my postcards for International Women's Day - all that remains to do is the satin stitch around the edges, and they can go off in the post this afternoon, with a March 8th postmark, which is appropriate, if slightly later than I have hoped to have them posted.

    Archive 2007-03-01 katelnorth 2007

  • (In fact, the postmark was a requirement -- although such ballots were also permissible if they were signed and dated no later than the date of the election.)

    Robert Weissman: Joe Lieberman: 2000 and 2006 2008

  • New York police, but have you inquired of the postman in a certain district whether he can recall the postmark on any of the letters he delivered to Mr. Adams?

    The Circular Study Anna Katharine Green 1890

  • Reed said he supports a switch to the Oregon system, calling the postmark deadline

    The Seattle Times 2010

  • He took the military ballots through the Panhandle county court system for the "postmark" escape clause.

    "You wanna know what I think? You guys who think 9/11 was an inside job are crazy as hell." Ann Althouse 2008

  • However, current "postmark" validator, registry, or round dater stamps (item 570 per the Postal Operations Manual) shows "USPS" for United States Postal Service.

    No Compromise When You're Right! 2008

  • "But the postmark is a week old, so I presume the meeting is a thing of the past.

    Dave Porter and His Rivals or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall Edward Stratemeyer 1896

  • FRAZIER: Well, what we've been hearing there is an attorney brought in by the Bush campaign from Chicago, Fred Bartlit, to argue the Bush's case that the results in 14 Florida counties should be contested because of military absentee ballots were thrown out by counters because they didn't bear the right technical marks, they didn't have the right kind of postmark or they weren't hand dated by the voter properly or they didn't bear the proper signature.

    CNN Transcript - Special Event: The Florida Recount: U.S. Supreme Court Enters the Fray - November 24, 2000 2000

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