[syn: e-mail, email, netmail]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
E-mail \E-mail\, email \email\, e-mail \e-mail\([=e]"m[^a]l`),
n.
electronic mail; a digitally encoded message sent from one
computer to another through an electronic communications
medium, especially by means of a computer network.
Syn: electronic mail.
[PJC] email
E-mail
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
E-mail \E-mail\, email \email\, e-mail \e-mail\v. t. [imp. & p.
p. E-mailed; p. pr. & vb. n. E-mailing.]
to send (an e-mail message) to someone; as, I emailed the
article to the editor; she emailed me her report.
Syn: mail electronically.
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
email
n 1: (computer science) a system of world-wide electronic
communication in which a computer user can compose a
message at one terminal that can be regenerated at the
recipient's terminal when the recipient logs in; "you
cannot send packages by electronic mail" [syn: electronic
mail, e-mail, email] [ant: snail mail]
v 1: communicate electronically on the computer; "she e-mailed
me the good news" [syn: e-mail, email, netmail]
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
email
/ee'mayl/
(also written ?e-mail? and ?E-mail?)
1. n. Electronic mail automatically passed through computer networks and/or
via modems over common-carrier lines. Contrast snail-mail, paper-net,
voice-net. See network address.
2. vt. To send electronic mail.
Oddly enough, the word emailed is actually listed in the OED; it means ?
embossed (with a raised pattern) or perh. arranged in a net or open work?.
A use from 1480 is given. The word is probably derived from French ?maill?
(enameled) and related to Old French emmaille?re (network). A French
correspondent tells us that in modern French, ?email? is a hard enamel
obtained by heating special paints in a furnace; an ?emailleur? (no final
e) is a craftsman who makes email (he generally paints some objects (like,
say, jewelry) and cooks them in a furnace).
There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet traffic up
to 1995, ?email? predominates, ?e-mail? runs a not-too-distant second, and
?E-mail? and ?Email? are a distant third and fourth.