postmark

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an official mark stamped on mail that usually records where and when it entered the postal system and cancels the stamp

   The postmark showed that the letter had been mailed in Dublin on Monday.

2. 2
   verb

   to stamp a piece of mail with an official postal mark

   The sorting office postmarked the envelope before sending it onward.

A compound of post, in the sense of the postal service, + mark. The noun arose for the official mark applied by a post office, especially one used to cancel a postage stamp; the verb followed from the noun.

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