Mailbags

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Bags used to hold and transport letters and parcels within postal systems
2. Pouches designed to carry mail safely from one location to another
3. Special bags meant for gathering and shipping postal items such as letters and packages

Etymology: "Mailbags" is simply the plural of "mailbag," so the history belongs to its parts: "mail" and "bag." The first of these comes from Old French "male," a word for a bag or wallet, which English borrowed and eventually narrowed to refer to the bag in which letters were carried. Over time that container sense gave way to the postal sense of "mail" itself, so the bag came to be named for the very thing it held. The second element, "bag," is much older and of uncertain ultimate origin, appearing in English for centuries as a general word for any sack or pouch. Joined together, the compound describes a sack used specifically for transporting post, and the plural simply counts several of them.