mailbox

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.A public box for deposit of mail, where it is later picked up by the postal authority for delivery.

Syn: postbox, letter box. [WordNet 1.5]

2.A private box to recieve delivery of mail. The term is used both for boxes receiving mail delivered by the public postal authority, or by a private services, such as for mail to employees in large corporations.

Syn: letter box. [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]

3.(Computers) A location within a computer storage device where electronic mail is held until it is retrieved by the addressee. Creation and use of an electronic mailbox requires special software as well as a data storage device. [PJC]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

1.<messaging> A file belonging to a particular user on a particular computer in which received electronic mail messages are stored ready for the user to read them. A mailbox may be just an electronic mail address to which messages are sent and may not actually correspond to a file if the messages are processed automatically, e.g. a mail server or mailing list.

2.<programming> A destination for interprocess messages in a message passing system. A mailbox is a message queue, usually stored in the memory of the processor on which the receiving process is running. Primitives are provided for sending a message to a named mailbox and for reading messages from a mailbox.

(1994-10-20)