courier

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman courrier, from Old French coreor, agent noun of corir (“to run”). Doublet of horse and course.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊɹ.ɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊɹ.i.ɚ/, /ˈkɜɹ.i.ɚ/
• Rhymes: -ʊriə(r)

courier (plural couriers)

1. A person who looks after and guides tourists.
   • 1914, G. K. Chesterton, "The Paradise of Thieves", in The Wisdom of Father Brown, p. 29:

     "A courier!" cried Muscari, laughing. "Is that the last of your list of trades? And whom are you conducting?"

2. A person who delivers messages.
3. A company that delivers messages.
4. A company that transports goods.
5. (Internet) A user who earns access to a topsite by uploading warez.
   • 1999, "Adrian Dunn", Re: Using a scanned picture in your demo (on newsgroup comp.sys.ibm.pc.demos)

     You can always find musicians. There are more trackers than coders, pixelers, organizers, couriers, and designers combined.

   • 2005, Paul Craig, Ron Honick, Mark Burnett, Software Piracy Exposed (page 2)

     These sites have enormous hard drives and bandwidth for couriers to distribute the software from one site to the next.

• (person who looks after and guides tourists): guide, rep, tourist guide
• (person who delivers messages): messenger
• (company that delivers messages):
• (company that transports goods):
• (user who uploads to a topsite):

courier (third-person singular simple present couriers, present participle couriering, simple past and past participle couriered)

1. To deliver by courier.

   We'll have the contract couriered to you.

• Ricœur

courier m or f (plural couriers)

1. courier