different between provisions vs errand

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???v??.?nz/
• Hyphenation: pro?vi?sions

Noun

provisions

1. plural of provision

Verb

provisions

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of provision

French

Noun

provisions f

1. plural of provision

Further reading

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

English

Alternative forms

• arrand

Etymology

From Middle English erande, erende, from Old English ?rende, from Proto-West Germanic *?rund? (“message, errand”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?r'-?nd, IPA^(key): /????nd/
• Rhymes: -???nd

Noun

errand (plural errands)

1. A journey undertaken to accomplish some task.
   1. (literary or archaic) A mission or quest.
      • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur

        What will ye, said King Arthur, and what is your errand?

      • 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

        Few have ever come hither through greater peril or on an errand more urgent.

        In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond: a hundred and ten days I have journeyed all alone.

   2. A mundane mission of no great consequence, concerning household or business affairs (dropping items by, doing paperwork, going to a friend's house, etc.)

2. The purpose of such a journey.

   • Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.

3. An oral message trusted to a person for delivery.
   • 1633, John Donne, Elegy VII

     I had not taught thee then the alphabet
     Of flowers, how they, devicefully being set
     And bound up, might with speechless secrecy
     Deliver errands mutely and mutually.

Derived terms

• fool's errand
• lost errand

Translations

Verb

errand (third-person singular simple present errands, present participle erranding, simple past and past participle erranded)

1. (transitive) To send someone on an errand.

   All the servants were on holiday or erranded out of the house.

2. (intransitive) To go on an errand.

   She spent an enjoyable afternoon erranding in the city.

Anagrams

• Ardern, Darren, Renard, darner