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Webster 1913 Edition
Envoy
En′voy
,Noun.
1.
One dispatched upon an errand or mission; a messenger; esp., a person deputed by a sovereign or a government to negotiate a treaty, or transact other business, with a foreign sovereign or government; a minister accredited to a foreign government. An envoy’s rank is below that of an ambassador.
2.
[F.
envoi
, fr. envoyer
to send.] An explanatory or commendatory postscript to a poem, essay, or book; – also in the French from, l'envoi.
The
envoy
of a ballad is the “sending” of it forth. Skeat.
Webster 1828 Edition
Envoy
EN'VOY
,Noun.
1.
A person deputed by a prince or government, to negotiate a treaty, or transact other business, with a foreign prince or government. We usually apply the word to a public minister sent on a special occasion, or for one particular purpose; hence an envoy is distinguished from an embassador or permanent resident at a foreign court, and is of inferior rank. But envoys are ordinary and extraordinary, and the word may sometimes be applied to resident ministers.2.
A common messenger. [Not in use.]3.
Formerly, a postscript sent with compositions, to enforce them.