English Dictionary

dead letter

名詞

広義

An item of mail that cannot be delivered to its intended recipient; after some time it is returned to the sender, or destroyed. / A law or other measure that is no longer enforced.

日本語の意味

送達不能の郵便物。配達先が見つからず、一定期間後に送り主に返送されるか、破棄される郵便物。 / もはや実際には施行されていない法律や規定、あるいは法的措置。

After searching the box, she found a dead letter that had been returned to the post office.

箱を探した後、彼女は郵便局に返送された配達不能の郵便物を見つけた。

意味（1）

An item of mail that cannot be delivered to its intended recipient; after some time it is returned to the sender, or destroyed.

意味（2）

A law or other measure that is no longer enforced.

Laws are a dead letter, without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation.

意味（3）

(by extension) Anything that has lost its authority or influence despite still being in existence or formally in force.

I have thought proper to premise thus much, lest the incredible tale I have to tell should be considered rather the raving of a crude imagination, than the positive experience of a mind to which the reveries of fancy have been a dead letter and a nullity.

dead letters （ plural ）