What is "milter"

Milter \Milt"er\, n. [Cf. D. milter, G. milcher, milchner. See 2d Milt.] (Zo["o]l.) A male fish.

n. A male fish during breeding season.

Milter ( portmanteau for mail filter) is an extension to the widely used open source mail transfer agents (MTA) Sendmail and Postfix. It allows administrators to add mail filters for filtering spam or viruses in the mail-processing chain. In the language of the art, "milter" refers to the protocol and API implementing the service, while "a milter" has come to refer to a filter application that uses milter to provide service.