n. [ F. poste, LL. posta station, post (where horses were kept), properly, a fixed or set place, fem. fr. L. positus placed, p. p. of ponere. See Position, and cf. Post a pillar. ] 1. The place at which anything is stopped, placed, or fixed; a station. Specifically: (a) A station, or one of a series of stations, established for the refreshment and accommodation of travelers on some recognized route; as, a stage or railway post. (b) A military station; the place at which a soldier or a body of troops is stationed; also, the troops at such a station. (c) The piece of ground to which a sentinel's walk is limited. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A messenger who goes from station; an express; especially, one who is employed by the government to carry letters and parcels regularly from one place to another; a letter carrier; a postman. [ 1913 Webster ]

In certain places there be always fresh posts, to carry that further which is brought unto them by the other. Abp. Abbot. [ 1913 Webster ]

I fear my Julia would not deign my lines,
Receiving them from such a worthless post. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An established conveyance for letters from one place or station to another; especially, the governmental system in any country for carrying and distributing letters and parcels; the post office; the mail; hence, the carriage by which the mail is transported. [ 1913 Webster ]

I send you the fair copy of the poem on dullness, which I should not care to hazard by the common post. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Haste or speed, like that of a messenger or mail carrier. [ Obs. ] “In post he came.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One who has charge of a station, especially of a postal station. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He held office of postmaster, or, as it was then called, post, for several years. Palfrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A station, office, or position of service, trust, or emolument; as, the post of duty; the post of danger. [ 1913 Webster ]

The post of honor is a private station. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A size of printing and writing paper. See the Table under Paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Post and pair, an old game at cards, in which each player a hand of three cards. B. Jonson. --
Post bag, a mail bag. --
Post bill, a bill of letters mailed by a postmaster. --
Post chaise, or
Post coach, a carriage usually with four wheels, for the conveyance of travelers who travel post. --
Post day, a day on which the mall arrives or departs. --
Post hackney, a hired post horse. Sir H. Wotton. --
Post horn, a horn, or trumpet, carried and blown by a carrier of the public mail, or by a coachman. --
Post horse, a horse stationed, intended, or used for the post. --
Post hour, hour for posting letters. Dickens. --
Post office. (a) An office under governmental superintendence, where letters, papers, and other mailable matter, are received and distributed; a place appointed for attending to all business connected with the mail. (b) The governmental system for forwarding mail matter. --
Postoffice order. See Money order, under Money. --
Post road, or
Post route, a road or way over which the mail is carried. --
Post town. (a) A town in which post horses are kept. (b) A town in which a post office is established by law. --
To ride post, to ride, as a carrier of dispatches, from place to place; hence, to ride rapidly, with as little delay as possible. --
To travel post, to travel, as a post does, by relays of horses, or by keeping one carriage to which fresh horses are attached at each stopping place. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ Cf. OF. poster. See 4th Post. ] 1. To travel with post horses; figuratively, to travel in haste. “Post seedily to my lord your husband.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

And post o'er land and ocean without rest. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Man.) To rise and sink in the saddle, in accordance with the motion of the horse, esp. in trotting. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Posted; p. pr. & vb. n. Posting. ] 1. To attach to a post, a wall, or other usual place of affixing public notices; to placard; as, to post a notice; to post playbills. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Formerly, a large post was erected before the sheriff's office, or in some public place, upon which legal notices were displayed. This way of advertisement has not entirely gone of use. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hold up to public blame or reproach; to advertise opprobriously; to denounce by public proclamation; as, to post one for cowardice. [ 1913 Webster ]

On pain of being posted to your sorrow
Fail not, at four, to meet me. Granville. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To enter (a name) on a list, as for service, promotion, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To assign to a station; to set; to place; as, to post a sentinel. “It might be to obtain a ship for a lieutenant, . . . or to get him posted.” De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Bookkeeping) To carry, as an account, from the journal to the ledger; as, to post an account; to transfer, as accounts, to the ledger. [ 1913 Webster ]

You have not posted your books these ten years. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To place in the care of the post; to mail; as, to post a letter. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To inform; to give the news to; to make (one) acquainted with the details of a subject; -- often with up. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thoroughly posted up in the politics and literature of the day. Lond. Sat. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

To post off, to put off; to delay. [ Obs. ] “Why did I, venturously, post off so great a business?” Baxter. --
To post over, to hurry over. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With post horses; hence, in haste; as, to travel post. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS., fr. L. postis, akin to ponere, positum, to place. See Position, and cf. 4th Post. ] 1. A piece of timber, metal, or other solid substance, fixed, or to be fixed, firmly in an upright position, especially when intended as a stay or support to something else; a pillar; as, a hitching post; a fence post; the posts of a house. [ 1913 Webster ]

They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses. Ex. xii. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then by main force pulled up, and on his shoulders bore,
The gates of Azza, post and massy bar. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unto his order he was a noble post. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Post, in the sense of an upright timber or strut, is used in composition, in such words as king-post, queen-post, crown-post, gatepost, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The doorpost of a victualer's shop or inn, on which were chalked the scores of customers; hence, a score; a debt. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When God sends coin
I will discharge your post. S. Rowlands. [ 1913 Webster ]

From pillar to post. See under Pillar. --
Knight of the post. See under Knight. --
Post hanger (Mach.), a bearing for a revolving shaft, adapted to be fastened to a post. --
Post hole, a hole in the ground to set the foot of a post in. --
Post mill, a form of windmill so constructed that the whole fabric rests on a vertical axis firmly fastened to the ground, and capable of being turned as the direction of the wind varies. --
Post and stall (Coal Mining), a mode of working in which pillars of coal are left to support the roof of the mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. aposter to place in a post or position, generally for a bad purpose. ] Hired to do what is wrong; suborned. [ Obs. ] Sir E. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ L. post behind, after; cf. Skr. paçcābehind, afterwards. ] A prefix signifying behind, back, after; as, postcommissure, postdot, postscript. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. post- + abdomen. ] (Zool.) That part of a crustacean behind the cephalothorax; -- more commonly called abdomen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being carried by, or as by, post. [ Obs. ] W. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An act done afterward. [ 1913 Webster ]