special delivery

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

special delivery (countable and uncountable, plural special deliveries)

1. (uncountable, sometimes hyphenated when used attributively) A kind of postal service in which, for an extra fee, letters and packages are delivered in a highly expedited manner by a special courier.
   • 1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Compliments of the Season”, in Strictly Business‎^[1]:

     The pick of the output of the French and German toymakers was rushed by special delivery to the mansion; but Rachel refused to be comforted.

   • 1919, Grace S. Richmond, “The Time of His Life”, in The Brown Study:

     So, before he slept, he sent his sister a special-delivery letter knowing she would receive it in the morning.

   • 1922, Mary Roberts Rinehart, chapter 22, in The Breaking Point:

     Then, as though he could hurry the trains East, he put a special delivery stamp on it.

2. (countable) A particular posted letter or package which is delivered in this manner; a particular act of conveying such letters or packages to one or more recipients.
   • 1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1, 2, or 3):

     Late in the afternoon arrived a special delivery, mailed from some small New Jersey town.

   • 1972 November 6, “People”, in Time:

     The post office arranged special deliveries every half-hour to handle the flood of greetings.

3. (countable and uncountable, idiomatic, by extension, sometimes humorous) Something—whether desirable or undesirable—which is intentionally given to a specific individual or which an individual receives rapidly and unexpectedly; the personalized, direct quality of the transmission of such an item.
   • 1998, Lisa Scottoline, Rough Justice, →ISBN, page 181:

     “Special delivery for Mr. Graham,” said the uniformed sheriff. He grinned as he stepped aside. “Hi, honey,” said the woman standing there.

   • 2008, Jerry B. Jenkins, John Perrodin, Seclusion Point, →ISBN, page 83:

     “He might be God's special delivery for us. The reward we've been waiting for.”

   • 2011, Brad Thor, Brad Thor Collectors' Edition #1‎^[2], →ISBN:

     “I have a special delivery for you from the president,” Harvath continued. He lowered his weapon, took aim, and shot the finger of Fawcett's right hand.

Hypernyms

• delivery

References

• “special delivery”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• special delivery (postal service) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia