different between messenger vs missile

English

Etymology

From Middle English messengere, messingere, messangere, from Old French messanger, a variant of Old French messagier (French messager), equivalent to message +? -er. Doublet of messager.Displaced native English boda (“messenger, envoy”) and English ærendwreca (“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): /?m?s.n?.d???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?s.n?.d???/
• Hyphenation: mes?sen?ger

Noun

messenger (plural messengers)

1. One who brings messages.
2. (nautical) A light line with which a heavier line may be hauled e.g. from the deck of a ship to the pier.
3. The supporting member of an aerial cable (electric power or telephone or data).
4. (law) 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 find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Tomlins to this entry?)

5. (computing) An instant messenger program.
6. A forerunner.
7. A light scudding cloud preceding a storm.
8. A piece of paper, etc., blown up a string to a kite.
9. (oceanography) A weight dropped down a line to close a Nansen bottle.
10. The secretary bird.
11. (Scotland) A messenger-at-arms.

Derived terms

• instant messenger
• raven-messenger

Translations

Verb

messenger (third-person singular simple present messengers, present participle messengering, simple past and past participle messengered)

1. (transitive) To send something by messenger.

   I'll messenger over the signed documents.

English

Etymology

From Latin missilis (“that may be thrown”), neuter missile (“a weapon to be thrown, a javelin”), in plural missilia (“presents thrown among the people by the emperors”), from mittere (“to send”). From 1611. Compare Middle French missile (“projectile”), from 1636.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: m?s??l, IPA^(key): /?m?sa?l/
• (US, Canada) enPR: m?s??l, m?s??l, IPA^(key): /?m?sa?l/, /?m?s?l/
• Rhymes: -?sa?l, -?s?l

Noun

missile (plural missiles)

1. Any object used as a weapon by being thrown or fired through the air, such as stone, arrow or bullet. [from 17th c.]

   The Rhodians, who used leaden bullets, were able to project their missiles twice as far as the Persian slingers, who used large stones.

2. (military) A self-propelled projectile whose trajectory can be adjusted after it is launched. [from 20th c.]

   That missile is explosive enough to kill hundreds.

Derived terms

• missileer

Related terms

• mess
• message
• messenger
• mission
• missionary
• missive

Translations

See also

• projectile
• rocket

Further reading

• missile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• missile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928) , “Missile”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VI, Part 2 (M–N), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697, page 540, column 3.

Anagrams

• mislies, similes, slimies, smilies

French

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin missilis (“that may be thrown”) (as in English).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.sil/

Noun

missile m (plural missiles)

1. missile

Derived terms

• missile à tête chercheuse

Further reading

• “missile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mis.si.le/
• Rhymes: -issile

Noun

missile m (plural missili)

1. missile

Adjective

missile (plural missili)

1. (relational) missile

Latin

Etymology

From missilis.

Noun

missile n (genitive missilis); third declension

1. a thrown weapon, such as a javelin
2. (plural) presents from the Emperor thrown to the people
3. (New Latin) a missile (self-propelled projectile)
   • 2018, Tuomo Pekkanen, Foederatio occidentalis Syriam missilibus percussit [1], Nuntii Latini 20.4.2018:

     USA, Britannia, Francia mane Sabbati plus centum missilia in tres metas Syriacas miserunt, in quibus arma chemica conficiebantur et tractabantur.

     The US, UK, and France Saturday morning fired over a hundred missiles at three Syrian sites in which chemical weapons were being built and stored.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

Synonyms

• (javelin): t?lum, iaculum

Adjective

missile

1. nominative neuter singular of missilis
2. accusative neuter singular of missilis
3. vocative neuter singular of missilis

References

• missilis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• missilis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• missile in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette