Dictionary

dead letter office en · NOUN

Meanings

1. The postal facility that deals with mail that cannot be delivered.
   • There are 4201 letters lying in the Dead Letter Office, London, which contain property to the amount of $200,000. 1847, editorial staff, “(untitled: 4201 letters)”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 72:
2. (figuratively) A channel of communications for which the recipient neither acknowledges nor acts upon any messages sent.
   • The agriculture department was merely a dead letter office until the present Minister gave it life and usefulness 1890 April 19, “Farm Topics”, in The Leader: A Weekly Journal of News, Politics, Agriculture, Literature, Science and Sport, Melbourne, Victoria, page 10:
   • The whole world is a Dead Letter Office. No one's listening to us. Our words vanish in the wind. 2009, Mike Hockney, The Last Bling King, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 101:

Forms