silver mail

English

Noun

silver mail

1. (dated, obsolete) Rent that has been paid in money.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see silver,‎ mail.
   • 1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, part I, page 12:

     The colours all inflam’d throughout her train, / She writh’d about, convuls’d with scarlet pain: / A deep volcanian yellow took the place / Of all her milder-mooned body’s grace; / And, as the lava ravishes the mead, / Spoilt all her silver mail, and golden brede; […]

   • 1897, Olive Custance, “A Pause”, in Opals, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head, page 59:

     In silver mail all shadowy pale, / The moon shines white, so white . . .

   • 1924, Roy Campbell, part II, in The Flaming Terrapin, New York, N.Y.: Lincoln MacVeagh, The Dial Press, page 19:

     The flying-fishes in their silver mail / Rose up like stars, and pattered down like hail, […]

   • 2013, John R. Fultz, “A Council of Kings”, in Seven Kings (Books of the Shaper; II), London: Orbit, →ISBN, page 395:

     The gleam of his silver mail was as brilliant as the scarlet cloak rippling from his shoulders.

See also

• buttock mail