message

See also: Message

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French message, from Late Latin missaticum, from Latin mittere, missum (“to send”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛsɪdʒ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Hyphenation: mes‧sage

Noun

message (plural messages)

  1. A communication, or what is communicated; any concept or information conveyed.
    • Bible, Judges iii. 20
      I have a message from God unto thee.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
    We've just received an urgent message from the President.
  2. An underlying theme or conclusion to be drawn from something.
    • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
      Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
    The main message of the novel is that time heals all wounds.
  3. (Britain, Ireland, chiefly in the plural) An errand.

Usage notes

In Ireland, Scotland and Northern England, messages (plural) can mean "groceries, shopping".

Abbreviations

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

Verb

message (third-person singular simple present messages, present participle messaging, simple past and past participle messaged)

  1. To send a message to; to transmit a message to, e.g. as text via a cell phone.
    Just message me for directions.
    I messaged her about the concert.
  2. To send (something) as a message; usually refers to electronic messaging.
    She messaged me the information yesterday.
    Please message the final report by fax.
  3. (intransitive) To send a message or messages; to be capable of sending messages.
    We've implemented a new messaging service.
    The runaway computer program was messaging non-stop.
  4. (obsolete) To bear as a message.

Synonyms
  • (send a text message to): text

See also

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From Old French message, from Late Latin missaticum, from Latin mitto, mittere (“to send”), missum.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /me.saʒ/, /mɛ.saʒ/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

message m (plural messages)

  1. message
    • 1928, André Breton, Nadja
      Un journal du matin suffira toujours à me donner de mes nouvelles : X . . . ., 26 décembre. - L'opérateur chargé de la station de télégraphie sans fil située à l' Île du Sable, a capté un fragment de message qui aurait été lancé dimanche soir à telle heure par le . . . . Le message disait notamment : « Il y a quelque chose qui ne va pas » mais il n'indiquait pas la position de l'avion à ce moment, et, par suite de très mauvaises conditions atmosphériques et des interférences qui se produisaient, l'opérateur n'a pu comprendre aucune autre phrase, ni entrer de nouveau en communication. Le message était transmis sur une longueur d'onde de 625 mètres ; d'autre part, étant donné la force de réception, l'opérateur a cru pouvoir localiser l'avion dans un rayon de 80 kilomètres autour de l' Île du Sable.
      A morning paper will always be adequate to give me my news : X . . ., December 26 -- The radio operator on the Ile du Sable has received a fragment of a message sent Sunday evening at such and such an hour by the . . . . The message said, in particular : "There is something which is not working" but failed to indicate the position of the plane at this moment, and due to extremely bad atmospheric conditions and static, the operator was unable to understand any further sentence, nor to make communication again. The message was transmitted on a wave length of 625 meters ; moreover given the strength of the reception, the operator states he can localize the plane within a radius of 50 miles around the Ile du Sable.

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Haitian Creole: mesaj
  • → Albanian: mesazh
  • → Azerbaijani: mesaj
  • → Moroccan Arabic: ميساج‎‎ (mesaž)
  • → Romanian: mesaj
  • → Turkish: mesaj

Further reading

Interlingua

Etymology

Old French message, see above.

Noun

message (plural messages)

  1. message

Derived terms
  • messagero
  • messageria

Norman

Noun

message m (plural messages)

  1. Alternative form of m'sage

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Late Latin missaticum, from Classical Latin missum, the supine of mittō

Noun

message m (oblique plural messages, nominative singular messages, nominative plural message)

  1. message (form of communication)
  2. messenger

Derived terms

Descendants

Scots

Etymology

Old French message, see above.

Noun

message (plural messages)

  1. message
  2. (in plural) purchases, shopping
    go the messages - do one's shopping
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.