Wikimore

See also: Messenger

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

messenger

Etymology

From Middle English Category:English terms inherited from Middle English#MESSENGER Category:English terms derived from Middle English#MESSENGER messengere, messingere, messangere, from Old French Category:English terms derived from Old French#MESSENGER messanger, a variant of Old French Category:English terms derived from Old French#MESSENGER messagier (French messager), equivalent to message +‎ -erCategory:English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)#MESSENGER. Doublet of messagerCategory:English doublets#MESSENGER. Displaced native Old English boda (“messenger, envoy”) and ǣrendraca (“messenger, ambassador”).

For the replacement of -ager with -enger, -inger, -anger, compare passenger, harbinger, scavenger, porringer. This development may have been merely the addition of n, or it may have resulted due to contamination from other suffixes such as Middle English -ing and the rare Old French -ange, -enc, -inge, -inghe (“-ing”) for Old French -age (“-age”).

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛs.ən.d͡ʒɚ/Category:English 3-syllable words#MESSENGER Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MESSENGER
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛs.ən.d͡ʒə/Category:English 3-syllable words#MESSENGER Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MESSENGER
Audio (US): (file)
Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#MESSENGER
Hyphenation: mes‧sen‧ger

Noun

messenger (plural messengers)Category:English lemmas#MESSENGER Category:English nouns#MESSENGER Category:English countable nouns#MESSENGER Category:English entries with incorrect language header#MESSENGER Category:Pages with entries#MESSENGER Category:Pages with 2 entries#MESSENGER

One who brings messages.
The secretary bird.
The supporting member of an aerial cable (electric power or telephone or data).
(law Category:en:Law#MESSENGER) A person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take charge of the estate of the bankrupt or insolvent.
- (Can we date this quote?), James Burrow, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench:
  The Messenger under the joint Commission of Bankruptcy might have seized the Whole, if they had remained in their Warehouse
  Category:English terms with quotations#MESSENGER
(computing Category:en:Computing#MESSENGER) An instant messenger program.
- 2006, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Sexual exploitation of children over the Internet, page 395:
  The 4 primary messengers include ^[sic] AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger.
  Category:English terms with quotations#MESSENGER
- 2010, Tim Collins, A Woman's Guide to Internet Dating, A Male Perspective, page 49:
  Have them meet you on your favorite messenger program. IMs provide a means of instant chat without waiting on someone to respond back to you.
  Category:English terms with quotations#MESSENGER
  Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
(figurative) A forerunner or harbinger.
a messenger of doomCategory:English terms with usage examples#MESSENGER
A light scudding cloud preceding a storm.
A piece of paper, etc., blown up a string to a kite.
(nautical Category:en:Nautical#MESSENGER) A light line with which a heavier line may be hauled e.g. from the deck of a ship to the pier.
(oceanography Category:en:Oceanography#MESSENGER) A weight dropped down a line to close a Nansen bottle.
(Scotland Category:Scottish English#MESSENGER) A messenger-at-arms.
(bowling Category:en:Bowling#MESSENGER) A pin which travels across the pin deck to knock over another pin, usually for a strike.