night letter

plural night letters

1. historicalcommunicationsA telegram sent overnight at a reduced rate for delivery on the morning of the following day, typically with a minimum charge for 25 words or less.

   "Someone named Rose sent a night letter from Philadelphia asking for six free tickets. A relative?"

   1976, [Walter Wager], My Side by King Kong: As Told to Walter Wager, New York, NY: Collier Books, page 104

   Synonyms: NL

2. An unsigned leaflet distributed clandestinely.

   1 more example

   Until one night this October, when members of Echo Company, from the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines […] quietly sneaked into Juz Ghoray and posted signs on people’s doors and windows. Their idea was to co-opt the infamous Taliban practice of intimidating government sympathizers with night letters threatening execution.

   2012 February 1, Luke Mogelson, “The Hard Way Out of Afghanistan”, in The New York Times Magazine