messenger

American  

[mes-uhn-jer] / ˈmɛs ən dʒər /

noun

1. a person who carries a message or goes on an errand for another, especially as a matter of duty or business.

   Synonyms:

   courier, bearer

2. a person employed to convey official dispatches or to go on other official or special errands.

   a bank messenger.

3. 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.

4. Oceanography. a brass weight sent down a line to actuate a Nansen bottle or other oceanographic instrument.

5. Archaic. a herald, forerunner, or harbinger.

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verb (used with object)

1. to send by messenger.

messenger British  

/ ˈmɛsɪndʒə /

noun

1. a person who takes messages from one person or group to another or others

2. a person who runs errands or is employed to run errands

3. a carrier of official dispatches; courier

4. 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

5. archaic a herald

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Etymology

Origin of messenger

1175–1225; Middle English messager, messangere < Anglo-French; Old French messagier. See message, -er ²

Example Sentences

I tell him Dad can tell me that himself, that he doesn’t have to be his messenger.

From Literature

BERLIN—After strikes that decimated much of Iran’s leadership, the country’s top diplomat has become the chief messenger of a regime that says it won’t negotiate.

From The Wall Street Journal

Technically speaking, peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as messengers in the body.

From The Wall Street Journal

That night we listened to our messengers’ reports.

From Literature

The partnership expects to fund various types of vaccines, including those based on messenger RNA.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• courier
• emissary
• go-between
• mediator
• prophet