Adjacent Words

Envoy definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EN'VOY, n. [L. via; Eng. way, contracted from viag, vag, or wag.]
1. A person deputed by a prince or government, to negotiate a treaty, or transact other business, with a foreign prince or government. We usually apply the word to a public minister sent on a special occasion, or for one particular purpose; hence an envoy is distinguished from an embassador or permanent resident at a foreign court, and is of inferior rank. But envoys are ordinary and extraordinary, and the word may sometimes be applied to resident ministers.
2. A common messenger. [Not in use.]
3. Formerly, a postscript sent with compositions, to enforce them.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a diplomat having less authority than an ambassador [syn: envoy, envoy extraordinary, minister plenipotentiary]
2: someone sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else [syn: emissary, envoy]
3: a brief stanza concluding certain forms of poetry [syn: envoy, envoi]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French envoyé, from past participle of envoyer to send, from Old French enveier Date: 1635 1. a. a minister plenipotentiary accredited to a foreign government who ranks between an ambassador and a minister resident — called also envoy extraordinary b. a person delegated to represent one government in its dealings with another 2. messenger, representative

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 a messenger or representative, esp. on a diplomatic mission. 2 (in full envoy extraordinary) a minister plenipotentiary, ranking below ambassador and above chargé d'affaires. Derivatives: envoyship n. Etymology: F envoyé, past part. of envoyer send f. en voie on the way f. L via 2. n. (also envoi) 1 a short stanza concluding a ballade etc. 2 archaic an author's concluding words. Etymology: ME f. OF envoi f. envoyer (as ENVOY(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Envoy En"voy, n. [F. envoy['e] envoy, fr. envoyer to send; pref. en- (L. in) + voie way, L. via: cf. F. envoi an envoy (in sense 2). See Voyage, and cf. Invoice.] 1. One dispatched upon an errand or mission; a messenger; esp., a person deputed by a sovereign or a government to negotiate a treaty, or transact other business, with a foreign sovereign or government; a minister accredited to a foreign government. An envoy's rank is below that of an ambassador. 2. [F. envoi, fr. envoyer to send.] An explanatory or commendatory postscript to a poem, essay, or book; -- also in the French from, l'envoi. The envoy of a ballad is the ``sending'' of it forth. --Skeat.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(envoys) 1. An envoy is someone who is sent as a representative from one government or political group to another. N-COUNT: with supp 2. An envoy is a diplomat in an embassy who is immediately below the ambassador in rank. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Minister, ambassador, legate, plenipotentiary.

Moby Thesaurus

agent, ambassador, ambassadress, apostolic delegate, attache, bearer, career diplomat, carrier, chancellor, charge, commercial attache, commissar, commissary, commissionaire, commissioner, consul, consul general, consular agent, councillor, courier, delegate, diplomat, diplomatic, diplomatic agent, diplomatist, emissary, envoy extraordinary, foreign service officer, herald, internuncio, legate, messenger, military attache, minister, minister plenipotentiary, minister resident, nuncio, plenipotentiary, representative, resident, secretary, secretary of legation, vice-consul, vice-legate