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messenger

[ mes-uhn-jer ]
/ ˈmɛs ən dʒər /
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noun
a person who carries a message or goes on an errand for another, especially as a matter of duty or business.
a person employed to convey official dispatches or to go on other official or special errands: a bank messenger.
Nautical.
  1. a rope or chain made into an endless belt to pull on an anchor cable or to drive machinery from some power source, as a capstan or winch.
  2. a light line by which a heavier line, as a hawser, can be pulled across a gap between a ship and a pier, a buoy, another ship, etc.
Oceanography. a brass weight sent down a line to actuate a Nansen bottle or other oceanographic instrument.
Archaic. a herald, forerunner, or harbinger.
verb (used with object)
to send by messenger.
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Origin of messenger

1175–1225; Middle English messager, messangere<Anglo-French; Old French messagier.See message, -er2

Words nearby messenger

mess around, mess call, messed up, Messeigneurs, Messene, messenger, messenger RNA, Messenia, Messerschmitt, mess gear, mess hall
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to messenger

courier, emissary, go-between, mediator, prophet, agent, ambassador, bearer, carrier, commissionaire, crier, delegate, detachment, detail, dispatcher, envoy, forerunner, gofer, harbinger, herald

How to use messenger in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for messenger

messenger
/ (ˈmɛsɪndʒə) /
noun
a person who takes messages from one person or group to another or others
a person who runs errands or is employed to run errands
a carrier of official dispatches; courier
nautical
  1. a light line used to haul in a heavy rope
  2. an endless belt of chain, rope, or cable, used on a powered winch to take off power
archaic a herald

Word Origin for messenger

C13: from Old French messagier, from message
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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