Wordinistas! Check out A Way With Words, public radio's call-in show about language.
Dictionary definition of “snorkel box”

snorkel box

n. a roadside mailbox with a projecting slot reachable from within an automobile. Subjects:
Citations: 1955 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) (Jan. 19) “Mailing First Letter in Snorkel Box.” p. 3: (title) 1959 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) (Apr. 15) “Change Location of ‘Snorkel” Box At BH Postoffice” p. 2: The “snorkel” mailbox formerly located at the rear of the Benton Harbor postoffice on Sixth street has been moved. 1975 U.S. News & World Report (Mar. 17) “Why Postal Rates Will Go Up Again” p. 31: We find that roughly a third of our complaints are about other things…maybe the location of a cubside [sic] “snorkel” box. 1987 Rick Anderson Seattle Times (Wash.) (Jan. 23) “Tunnel Vision Curbs Downtown Drive-Up Mailboxes” p. B1: It’s tough to drive up and mail a letter when there is no drive-up letter box. The snorkel boxes, as the Postal Service calls them, have stood at Third and Union for decades. 1988 Amy Goldstein Washington Post (Sept. 22) “Mailbox Fatal to Boy, 6, Lacked Bolts” p. D1: The boy…had been swinging on the long chute of a type of mailbox known as a “snorkel box.” The 160-pound mailbox features a regular pull handle on one side and a long, curbside chute on the other, designed for mail deposited from the window of a car. 2005 Jackie Majerus Bristol Press (Conn.) (Oct. 14) “Attention, Santa: all Bristol Postmaster Mike Parent wants before Christmas is a new parking lot”: He said the dropoff mailbox, or “snorkel box,” in post office parlance, will be located at the back of the parking lot near Foley Street.

Leave a comment (must be approved by the moderator before it will appear).

Name (mandatory):

Email (mandatory):

Location (optional):

Your Web Site (optional):

Remember my personal information

Notify me, by email, of follow-up comments.

Recent Catchwords
brown gas n. (5/9)
rewilding n. (5/9)
hardening off n. (5/9)
car-fu n. (5/9)
bump up suit n. (5/9)
cat-claw n. (5/8)
crabs in a bucket other. (5/8)
poofer n. (5/8)
peopletician n. (5/8)
combat shower n. (5/7)
sushi index n. (5/7)
lake lettuce n. (5/7)
ghost in v. phr. (5/7)
head out v. phr. (5/7)
sang n. (5/7)
filler n. (5/6)
 More catchwords...
Sponsored links:
New Comments
chris commented on fobbit (5/12)
Driver Joe commented on brown gas (5/11)
Jan commented on tom-walkers (5/11)
Jak King commented on nightstand Buddhist (5/11)
Karl Benghauser commented on jingle mail (5/10)
Thomas commented on cat-claw (5/10)
Richard William Walker commented on cat-claw (5/10)
chris commented on bootleg (5/9)
Tama commented on jitterbug (5/9)
Grant Barrett commented on cat-claw (5/9)
Thomas commented on cat-claw (5/9)
Thomas commented on cat-claw (5/9)
Kimo lanikai commented on Hawaiian peace sign (5/8)
Julie Dobkin commented on who laid the rail (5/7)
Dale fawthrop commented on blute (5/6)
Subscribe to the RSS feed.Subscribe to the mailing list.Browse the archive.Add to Technorati Favorites. © 1999-2008 by Grant Barrett, Double-Tongued Dictionary, New York City.