4 lines
1002 B
Plaintext
4 lines
1002 B
Plaintext
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email
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/eemayl/ (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 emmaillere (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.
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