bounce message

2 definitions found

bounce message - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  bounce message
  
     A notification message returned to the sender by a site unable
     to relay e-mail to the intended recipient or the next link
     in a bang path.  Reasons might include a nonexistent or
     misspelled user name or a down relay site.  Bounce messages
     can themselves fail, with occasionally ugly results; see
     sorcerer's apprentice mode and software laser.  The terms
     "bounce mail" and "barfmail" are also common.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1994-11-29)
  

bounce message - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  bounce message
   n.
  
     [common] Notification message returned to sender by a site unable to
     relay email to the intended Internet address recipient or the next
     link in a bang path (see bounce, sense 1). Reasons might include
  a
     nonexistent or misspelled username or a down relay site. Bounce
     messages can themselves fail, with occasionally ugly results; see
     sorcerer's apprentice mode and software laser. The terms bounce
     mail and barfmail are also common.