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messenger Definition

mes·sen·ger (mes′ən jər)

noun

    1. a person who carries a message or goes on an errand
    2. a person whose work is delivering telegrams, official dispatches, or the like
  2. Archaic a harbinger; forerunner
  3. Naut. a light line tied to a heavier one and used in pulling it as from a ship to a pier

Etymology: ME messengere (with unhistoric -n-) < OFr messagier: see message

messenger Synonyms

messenger

n.

bearer, minister, angel, prophet, dispatcher, herald, carrier, courier, runner, crier, errand boy, intermediary, envoy, emissary, internuncio, go-between, ambassador, commissionaire, flag-bearer, gofer*, boy*; see also agent 1.

messenger Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • Satan: Some of them have ugly messengers of Satan, impudent devils haunting them.
  • covenant: That is a partial meaning of ' the angel ' , or ' the messenger of the covenant ' .
  • god: Muhammad begins to believe he is a messenger of god.

Converse of object

  • shoot: Please don't shoot the messenger - we're only passing on our visitors ' advice!
  • send: Johnson sent a messenger to inform Wild of what had happened.
  • dispatch: Mary put up strong resistance to the idea at first, but gave in on condition that she may dispatch messengers to Scotland.
  • dispatch: There are no voices of command from heaven under this seal and no messengers despatched from the throne.
  • blame: Are you sure you are not just blaming the messenger?

Adjective modifier

  • instant: You're AIM, probably the most popular instant messenger out there.
  • intracellular: In this way, the same intracellular messenger, calcium, can be used to control all sorts of things without confusing the cell.
  • heavenly: But the heavenly messenger also warned that the child would be a wild man and every man's hand would be against him.
  • divine: The collegiality of the divine messengers is a central tenet of Islamic faith.
  • swift: So the King sent swift messengers to all parts of the world to summon every evil creature to his aid.
  • chemical: The cells themselves produce chemical messengers which call other cells to join them in the immune response.

Modifies a noun

  • molecule: Many of these plant molecules interfere with the activity of animal messenger molecules, with their synthesis or physiological activity or destruction.

Noun used with modifier

  • msn: Just looking for people to chat to on msn messenger.
  • yahoo: The entire text of an email I just received runs Subject: RE: yahoo messenger Don't use it.
  • chemical: Effect on the hormone system The endocrine system produces chemical messengers or hormones which have an effect on almost every organ in the body.
  • bicycle: Scouts quickly agreed to fill roles as diverse as stretcher-bearers, convoy signallers, firewatchers and bicycle messengers.
  • jazz: As one of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers he was also joined by his pianist brother Gap Mangione.
messenger Quotes

He's an Anglo-Saxon Messengeröand those are Anglo- Saxon attitudes.

—Dodgson

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.

—Bible (NewTestament)

The merry cuckoo, messenger of Spring, His trumpet shrill hath thrice already sounded.

—Spenser, Edmund

Oh, no, the machine, the machine is necessary. A man comesintoagreat hotelandsays,Iama messenger. Who is this man? He disappears walking, there is no noise, nothing. Maybe he will never come back, maybe he will never deliver the message.But a man who rides up on a great machine, this man is responsible, this man exists. He will be given messages.

—Miller, Arthur