apostle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One of a group made up especially of the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus to preach the gospel.
2. n. A missionary of the early Christian Church.
3. n. A leader of the first Christian mission to a country or region.
4. n. One of the 12 members of the administrative council in the Mormon Church.
5. n. One who pioneers an important reform movement, cause, or belief: an apostle of conservation.
6. n. A passionate adherent; a strong supporter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A person sent to execute some important business: among the Jews of the Christian epoch, a title borne by persons sent on foreign missions, especially by those commissioned to collect the temple tribute; specifically adopted by Christ as the official title of twelve of his disciples chosen and sent forth to preach the gospel to the world (Luke vi. 13); afterward applied in the New Testament to others who performed apostolic functions, as Paul and Barnabas, and once to Christ himself (Heb. iii. 1). In the Greek Church this title is given “not only to the Twelve, but to the Seventy Disciples, and to other Apostolic men who were the companions of the Apostles properly so called.” (J. M. Neale.) In later usage the title has been given to the first Christian missionaries in any part of the world, and to the pioneers of any great moral reform: as, St. Augustine, the apostle of the English; St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany; St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies; John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians; Theobald Mathew, the apostle of temperance.
2. n. In the Mormon Ch., the title of an official whose duty it is to be a special witness of the name of Christ, to build up and preside over the church, and to administer in all its ordinances. There are twelve of these officials, who rank next after the president and his two assistants, and constitute a Presiding High Council charged with the penal regulation of the affairs of the church and the settlement of important matters.
3. n. In the liturgy of the early church, and in the modern Greek Church, the lesson from the epistles, usually taken from the writings of St. Paul; also, a book containing these lessons, printed in the order in which they are to be read.
4. n. In law, a brief statement of a case sent by a court whence an appeal has been taken to a superior court. This sense belonged to the Latin apostolus among the Roman jurists, and was commonly used until a late date in the tribunals of the Roman Catholic Church.
5. n. Nautical, a knighthead or bollard-timber where hawsers and heavy ropes are belayed.

Wiktionary

1. n. A missionary, or leader of a religious mission, especially one in the early Christian Church (but see Apostle).
2. n. A pioneer or early advocate of a particular cause, prophet of a belief.
3. n. A top-ranking ecclesiastical official in the Mormon (twelve-seat, hence the term) administrative council.
4. n. A person who is plucked, i.e. refused an academic degree.
5. n. A letter dismissory.
6. n. A note sent to an appeal court presenting the appeal in summary.
7. n. The trial court record sent to an appeal court concerning an appeal.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Literally: One sent forth; a messenger. Specifically: One of the twelve disciples of Christ, specially chosen as his companions and witnesses, and sent forth to preach the gospel.
2. n. The missionary who first plants the Christian faith in any part of the world; also, one who initiates any great moral reform, or first advocates any important belief; one who has extraordinary success as a missionary or reformer.
3. n. A brief letter dimissory sent by a court appealed from to the superior court, stating the case, etc.; a paper sent up on appeals in the admiralty courts.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any important early teacher of Christianity or a Christian missionary to a people
2. n. (New Testament) one of the original 12 disciples chosen by Christ to preach his gospel
3. n. an ardent early supporter of a cause or reform