ENVOY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does envoy mean? 

• ENVOY (noun)
  The noun ENVOY has 3 senses:

1. a diplomat having less authority than an ambassador

2. someone sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else

3. a brief stanza concluding certain forms of poetry

  Familiarity information: ENVOY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENVOY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A diplomat having less authority than an ambassador

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

envoy; envoy extraordinary; minister plenipotentiary

Hypernyms ("envoy" is a kind of...):

diplomat; diplomatist (an official engaged in international negotiations)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone sent on a mission to represent the interests of someone else

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

emissary; envoy

Hypernyms ("envoy" is a kind of...):

representative (a person who represents others)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "envoy"):

legate; official emissary (a member of a legation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A brief stanza concluding certain forms of poetry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

envoi; envoy

Hypernyms ("envoy" is a kind of...):

stanza (a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem)

 Context examples 

This envoy had instructions to represent to the monarch of Blefuscu, the great lenity of his master, who was content to punish me no farther than with the loss of mine eyes; that I had fled from justice; and if I did not return in two hours, I should be deprived of my title of nardac, and declared a traitor.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

With this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput; and the monarch of Blefuscu related to me all that had passed; offering me at the same time (but under the strictest confidence) his gracious protection, if I would continue in his service; wherein, although I believed him sincere, yet I resolved never more to put any confidence in princes or ministers, where I could possibly avoid it; and therefore, with all due acknowledgments for his favourable intentions, I humbly begged to be excused.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The envoy further added, that in order to maintain the peace and amity between both empires, his master expected that his brother of Blefuscu would give orders to have me sent back to Lilliput, bound hand and foot, to be punished as a traitor.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)