Dead-letter

an action of no value or weight; an article, owing to some mistake in its production, rendered utterly valuele ,—often applied to any instrument in writing, which by some apparently trivial omi ion, becomes usele . At the general and large district post-offices, there is a department for letters which have been erroneously addre ed, or for which, from many and various causes, there are no receivers. These are called DEAD-LETTERS , and the office in connexion with them is known as the DEAD-LETTER office.