courier
Americannoun
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a messenger, usually traveling in haste, bearing urgent news, important reports or packages, diplomatic messages, etc.
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any means of carrying news, messages, etc., regularly.
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the conveyance used by a courier, as an airplane or ship.
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Chiefly British. a tour guide for a travel agency.
noun
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a special messenger, esp one carrying diplomatic correspondence
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a person who makes arrangements for or accompanies a group of travellers on a journey or tour
verb
Etymology
Origin of courier
1350–1400; < Middle French cour ( r ) ier < Italian corriere, equivalent to corr ( ere ) to run (< Latin currere ) + -iere < Latin -ārius -ary; replacing Middle English corour < Anglo-French cor ( i ) our, Old French coreor < Late Latin curritor runner; see current, -tor
Explanation
A courier is a person you trust with delivering important messages or packages. Let your mail carrier deliver your credit card bill and the form letter from the “Save the Orchids” foundation, but trust a courier with your book contract or birth certificate. Couriers are in a hurry. Do they saunter up your driveway the way a mail carrier does? No! Couriers are clearly on important business; they’re jogging. The word comes from a Latin word, currere, meaning “to run.” Nowadays, you might see couriers on bicycles, however, weaving in and out of traffic to deliver your messages on time.
Vocabulary lists containing courier
Make a Run for It: Cur, Curs
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 14–18
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"Macbeth": Act 1 Scene 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Derbyshire Police said so-called courier fraud incidents were "sadly not unusual" and could target anyone of any age.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
But the courier was sent home after a Customs and Border Protection agent stopped him at the Miami airport and got the letter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
They hold moisture, yes — but they also carry spice into the interior like a well-trained courier.
From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026
Her Alawi identity rendered her especially useful as a revolutionary courier; police never imagined her capable of betraying the regime.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
One night, on the New York City subway, a KGB courier named Zalmond Franklin ran into an old friend, Clarence Hiskey.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
