Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
letter bomb \let"ter bomb`\, letter-bomb \let"ter-bomb`\n. A bomb disguised as a letter and sent through the mail, usually rigged to explode and kill or harm the recipient when opened.
Wiktionary
n. 1 An explosive device sent through the post, triggered to explode when the letter or packet is opened. 2 (context computing English) A virus contained within an email or similar file.
WordNet
n. a thin explosive device inside an envelope or package and detonated when opened [syn: parcel bomb, package bomb]
v. send an explosive to; "The Unabomber letterbombed a number of individuals and institutions"
Wikipedia
A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in Israeli targeted killings and in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber. Some countries have agencies whose duties include the interdiction of letter bombs and the investigation of letter bombings. The letter bomb may have been in use for nearly as long as the common postal service has been in existence, as far back as 1764 (see Examples).
Usage examples of "letter bomb".
Page three had a story about a letter bomb that had exploded in the face of Nancy Jane DiVencenzo of Cape May, New Jersey.
The Israeli embassy had already lost one man to a letter bomb, and it did not intend to lose another.
Several years ago, a judge in the Birmingham area had been killed by a letter bomb.
It had taken only two hours to fashion an inconspicuous letter bomb with gunpowder, C-4, glass, wire, gum, and blasting caps.
This is what had happened on the afternoon of June 15, 1978: Jesus Bernal manufactured a letter bomb which was meant to kill a well-known Miami talk-show host.
We open a letter bomb or get jabbed with the tip of a poisoned umbrella, or drink ourselves to death.
I don't know what's in a letter until I open it (except the time it was a letter bomb).
He held it up to the light, looking for the faint wires that might indicate a letter bomb.
I was half expecting a letter bomb from Ted Nash, but so far he was showing admirable restraint.