Definition of "graymail" [graymail]

• A defensive tactic in an espionage trial whereby the accused threatens to reveal secret information unless the charges are dropped. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In the past, defense lawyers have used what is some call graymail to demand all sorts of sensitive information that the government doesn't want to make it public, then they simply have to walk away from the case."
• "The majority of what was left was something we refer to as graymail, and when thinking about how to deal with graymail, it became clear that the fundamental problem wasn't just which things to accept or reject."
• "A Threat in Black and White graymail Prosecutors, on the other hand, say their requests for secrecy are valid and prevent the defendant from bullying prosecutors into dropping their case for fear of disclosing sensitive information, a practice commonly referred to as "graymail.""