- post (adv.)
- 1540s, "with post horses," hence, "rapidly;" especially in the phrase to ride post "go rapidly," from post (n.3).
- post (n.1)
- "a timber set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," perhaps from por- "forth" (see pro-) + stare "to stand" (see stet). Similar compound in Sanskrit prstham "back, roof, peak," Avestan parshti "back," Greek pastas "porch in front of a house, colonnade," Middle High German virst "ridepole," Lithuanian pirstas, Old Church Slavonic pristu "finger" (PIE *por-st-i-).
- post (n.2)
- "place when on duty," 1590s, from Middle French poste "place where one is stationed," also, "station for post horses" (16c.), from Italian posto "post, station," from Vulgar Latin *postum, from Latin positum, neuter past participle of ponere "to place, to put" (see position (n.)). Earliest sense in English was military; meaning "job, position" is attested 1690s.
- post (n.3)
- "mail system," c.1500, "riders and horses posted at intervals," from post (n.2) on notion of riders and horses "posted" at intervals along a route to speed mail in relays, probably formed on model of Middle French poste in this sense (late 15c.). Meaning "system for carrying mail" is from 1660s.
- post (v.4)
- "to put up bail money," 1781, from one of the nouns post, but which one is uncertain. Related: Posted; posting.
- post (v.1)
- "to affix (a paper, etc.) to a post" (in a public place), hence, "to make known," 1630s, from post (n.1). Related: Posted; posting.
- post (v.2)
- in bookkeeping, "to transfer from a day book to a formal account," 1620s, from post (n.2) via a figurative sense of "carrying" by post horses. Related: Posted; posting.
- post (v.3)
- "to send through the postal system," 1837, from post (n.3). Earlier, "to travel with relays of horses" (1530s). Related: Posted; posting.
- post (v.5)
- "to station at a post," from post (n.2). Related: Posted; posting.