messenger

[ mes-uhn-jer ]

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.

verb (used with object)

1. to send by messenger.

messenger

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of messenger¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of messenger¹

C13: from Old French messagier, from message

Example Sentences

What matters to them is whether a candidate reflects their values and seems “a good fit for the community ... In many ways, the message is the messenger.”

From Los Angeles Times

Interleukin 38 is a small messenger protein that ensures communication between cells.

From Science Daily

Anzorov made an initial note on his telephone that read: “A teacher has shown his class a picture of the messenger of Allah naked.”

From BBC

Weaver, who lives in Palmdale but used to live half a mile from Dodger Stadium, is a retired messenger who delivered gifts and checks to celebrities before going blind 12 years ago.

From Los Angeles Times

He added that using social media “is a mixed bag,” like relying “on a trusted messenger” to route information to audiences that are connected to one another.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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