Ail vs Mail - What's the difference?
ail | mail |
(obsolete) Painful; troublesome.
To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)
* Bible, Genesis xxi. 17
* 2011 , "Connubial bliss in America", The Economist :
To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
* Richardson
mail
*1499 , (John Skelton), The Bowge of Courte :
*:What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale; / A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male !
A bag containing letters to be delivered by post.
The material conveyed by the postal service.
:
*1823 ,
*:The following are the hours at which the letter-box of this office is closed for making up the several mails', and the hours at which each ' mail is despatched: ¶
*1887 , John Houston Merrill (editor),
*
*:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. Mail bags, so I understand, are being put on board. Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
(lb) A stagecoach, train or ship that delivers such post.
The postal service or system in general.
:
(lb) Electronic mail, e-mail: a computer network–based service for sending, storing, and forwarding electronic messages.
A trunk, box, or bag, in which clothing, etc., may be carried.
:(Sir Walter Scott)
(label) To send (a letter, parcel, etc.) through the mail.
(label) To send by electronic mail.
* 1983 , "Donn Seeley", Source for 'Grab' '' (on newsgroup ''net.unix-wizards )
* 1998 , "Michael Tomsett", Re: Multiple postings?'' (on newsgroup ''alt.music.manics )
* 2003 , "Chrissy", Re: Send mail with attachment'' (on newsgroup ''microsoft.public.excel.programming )
(label) To contact (a person) by electronic mail.
* 2000 , "Carlton Alton Deltree", Whoever did this sucks...'' (on newsgroup ''alt.comp.virus )
* 2002 , Jessica Mann, The voice from the grave ,
* 2011 , Rose Budworth-Levine, Intimate Encounters ,
(label) Armour consisting of metal rings or plates linked together.
(label) A contrivance of interlinked rings, for rubbing off the loose hemp on lines and white cordage.
Any hard protective covering of an animal, as the scales and plates of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc.
* (rfdate) John Gay:
A spot on a bird's feather; by extension, a spotted feather.
* 1653 , Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler :
In transitive terms the difference between ail and mail
is that ail is to cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions. while mail is to pinion.As an adjective ail
is painful; troublesome.ail
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .Adjective
(en-adj)Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.
- What aileth thee, Hagar?
- Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statue book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?
- When he ails ever so little he is so peevish.
Quotations
* (English Citations of "ail")Etymology 3
From (etyl) .Anagrams
* * ----English
(wikipedia mail)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) male, (etyl) . Compare Dutch maal.Noun
The stranger in Liverpool; or, An historical and descriptive view of the town of Liverpool and its environs], Seventh Edition, T. Kaye, [http://books.google.com/books?id=FsQHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA96 page 96,
The American and English Encyclopædia of Law], Volume I, Edward Thompson, [http://books.google.com/books?id=75ENAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA121 p.121,
- If he retains the account, and permits several mails to pass without objecting to it, he will be held to have admitted its correctness.
Usage notes
In the United States, mails (plural) can mean "the postal system".Synonyms
* (postal system) post (UK, Ireland, other dialects?)Derived terms
{{der3, accountable mail , air mail , carry the mail , chain mail , e-mail , email , electronic mail , fan mail , hate mail , junk mail , mailbag , mail boat , mail bomb , mailbox , mail call , mail carrier , mail fraud , mailman , mailmerge , mail order , mail plane , mail relay , mailroom , mail slot , mail stop , mail train , mail truck , mails , snail mail , surface mail , voice mail , vote-by-mail , webmail}}Verb
(en verb)- Please mail me the spreadsheet by the end of the day.
- There has been a crackdown on non-ARPA use of a local ARPA gateway, so I am reluctant to attempt to mail the file to ARPA sites.
- Since .mp3's are so big (well for me with a 33.6kp/s connection they are anyway) maybe you should offer on your site to mail the file to people who want it, and have them request it, thus saving your web space, your upload time and their download time
- If you mail an attachment from one mail client then it does not matter if the receiver uses a different mail client. The mail you send should be able to be read from their mail client.
- I need to mail my tutor about the deadline.
- I was horrified but my data was OK. Then, it saw it open my e-mail package and start to mail my friends. I turned the power off.
page 189:
- 'Yes, at Quantico. She was so excited by it, she sent all those emails, you remember I told you about it -' 'Yes, she mailed me from there too.'
page 41:
- He mailed me and said he had managed to hack into my email accounts.
Synonyms
* (send through the mail) postDerived terms
{{der3, mailer , mailing}}Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Alternative forms
* mailleNoun
(-)- We strip the lobster of his scarlet mail .
- the moorish-fly; made with the body of duskish wool; and the wings made of the blackish mail of the drake