different between messenger vs usher

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 Middle English ussher, uscher, usscher, from Anglo-Norman usser and Old French ussier, uissier (“porter, doorman”) (compare French huissier), from Vulgar Latin *usti?rius (“doorkeeper”), from Latin ?sti?rius, from ?stium (“door”). Akin to ?s (“mouth”). Probably a doublet of ostiary and huissier.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?sh?-?r, IPA^(key): /?????/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [?a?.?(?)]
• (UK) IPA^(key): [???.?(?)]
• (US) IPA^(key): [???.?]
• Rhymes: -???(?)
• Hyphenation: ush?er

Noun

usher (plural ushers)

1. A person, in a church, cinema etc., who escorts people to their seats.
2. A male escort at a wedding.
3. A doorkeeper in a courtroom.
4. (obsolete) An assistant to a head teacher or schoolteacher; an assistant teacher.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.12:

     [H]e defrayed the expence of his entrance, and left him in the particular care and inspection of the usher, who […] though obliged by the scandalous administration of fortune to act in the character of an inferior teacher, had by his sole capacity and application, brought the school to that degree of reputation which it never could have obtained from the talents of his superior.

   • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford 2008, p. 33:

     He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master of Lichfield school, ‘a man (said he) very skilful in his little way.’

5. (dated, derogatory) Any schoolteacher.

Synonyms

• (male attendant at a wedding): groomsman, bridesman

Derived terms

• usherette
• usheress

Translations

Verb

usher (third-person singular simple present ushers, present participle ushering, simple past and past participle ushered)

1. To guide people to their seats.
   • 1836, Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz, "The curate. The old lady. The half-pay captain."

     Her entrance into church on Sunday is always the signal for a little bustle in the side aisle, occasioned by a general rise among the poor people, who bow and curtsey until the pew-opener has ushered the old lady into her accustomed seat, dropped a respectful curtsey, and shut the door;
2. To accompany or escort (someone).
   • 1898, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, page 509

     Margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered.

3. (figuratively) To precede; to act as a forerunner or herald.
   • 1912, Elizabeth Christine Cook, Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750, page 31

     Thus the Harvard poets and wits ushered The New England Courant out of existence.

4. (figuratively, transitive) to lead or guide somewhere

Derived terms

• usher in

Translations

Anagrams

• Huser, Rhues, Ruhes, Uhers, erhus, huers, shure