Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One that carries messages or performs errands, as.
- noun A person employed to carry telegrams, letters, or parcels.
- noun A military or official courier.
- noun An envoy to another person, party, or government.
- noun A bearer of news.
- noun A forerunner; a harbinger.
- noun A prophet.
- noun Islam Muhammad. Used with the.
- noun Nautical A chain or rope used for hauling in a cable.
- transitive verb To send by messenger.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who bears a message or goes on an errand; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice, or invitation; in the civil service, one employed in conveying official despatches.
- noun One who or that which foreruns; a harbinger; a precursor: a forerunner.
- noun A light scudding cloud regarded as the precursor of a storm or gale of wind.
- noun Nautical, an endless rope or chain turned around the capstan, formerly used to unmoor or heave up a ship's anchors, by transmitting the power of the capstan to the cable.
- noun In law, a person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take temporary charge of the assets, and to perform some other duties in reference to the proceedings.
- noun A piece of stiff paper, or the like, set upon the end of a kite-string held in the hand, to be blown up the string to the kite
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who bears a message; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice, or invitation, from one person to another, or to a public body; specifically, an office servant who bears messages.
- noun One who, or that which, foreshows, or foretells.
- noun (Naut.) A hawser passed round the capstan, and having its two ends lashed together to form an endless rope or chain; -- formerly used for heaving in the cable.
- noun (Law) A person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take charge of the estate of the bankrupt or insolvent.
- noun the secretary bird, from its swiftness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One who brings
messages . - noun nautical A light line with which a heavier line may be hauled e.g. from the deck of a ship to the pier.
- noun The supporting member of an aerial cable (electric power or telephone or data).
- verb transitive To send something by messenger.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who carries a message
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“By αγγελος, angel [or messenger], we are to understand the _messenger_, or person sent by God to preside over the church; and to him the epistle is directed, not as pointing out his state, but the state of the church under his care.
A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse Sylvester Bliss 1838
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Also, the built-in messenger is nice, and I LOVE the fact that you can use it to SMS, and not just in the US, but here in India as well.
Yahoo Mail Filters Your Inbox By Contacts And Connections | Lifehacker Australia 2009
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The sermon, recorded some time ago, talks about assassinating those who have “defamed” the Prophet Mohammed – citing one religious authority as saying “Harming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever doesthat.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » “South Park” Creators Warned (Threatened) Over Mohammed 2010
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Attacking the messenger is a lot easier than refuting the facts.
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Your habit of shooting the messenger is therefore happily confined to metaphor. on July 29, 2009 at 9: 00 am Finger Moose
Police Use Naughty Word *SHOCK* « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009
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Shoot the messenger is a real problem and some might fear for their employment or future employment.
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Kill the messenger is also SOP in the Cheney administration.
Think Progress » The Army investigatation into new abuse charges 2005
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If so, that would sound like a violation of federal civil rights laws - denying the ad based on the fact the messenger is a church.
12/02/2004 2004
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Attacking the messenger is the oldest and saddest trick in the book for people who have no positive message.
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The Jewish writers run into gross absurdities to evade the conviction of this evidence; some of them say that this messenger is the angel of death, who shall take the wicked out of this life, to be sent into hell torments; others of them say that it is
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721
kewpid commented on the word messenger
This word has always felt 'wrong'. How does 'message' become 'messenger' ? Would a 'messager' be the creator rather than someone who carried it?
January 21, 2008
sionnach commented on the word messenger
The same way 'passage' becomes 'passenger'?
Or 'massage' doesn't become 'massenger'?
You were expecting consistency from zees crazy language of ours?
January 21, 2008
seanahan commented on the word messenger
Actually, that one makes sense. Message and passage, while both from French, came into Middle English, and once anglicized, they took on the English suffix. Massage came from French at a much later date, and has not been fully assimilated (thanks Bill!) into the English language, so it doesn't take on an English suffix.
From etymonline, "c.1225, messager, from O.Fr. messagier, from message (see message). With parasitic -n- inserted by c.1300 for no apparent reason except that people liked to say it that way (cf. passenger, harbinger, scavenger)."
Apparently, the n is excrescent.
January 22, 2008