errand

English

Etymology

Old English ǣrende

Pronunciation

• enPR: ěr'-ənd, IPA: /ˈɛrənd/, SAMPA: /"Er@nd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrənd

Noun

errand (plural errands)

1. A trip to accomplish a small mission or to do some business (dropping items by, doing paperwork, going to a friend's house, etc.)

   The errands before he could start the project included getting material at the store and getting the tools he had lent his neighbors.

2. The purpose of such trip.

   I'm going to town on some errands.

3. An oral message trusted to a person for delivery.

Derived terms

• fool's errand
• lost errand

Translations

trip to accomplish a small task

Chinese: Mandarin: trad. 差使, simpl. 差使 (chāishǐ) Danish: ærinde (da) n.

French: course (fr) German: Besorgung (de) f.

purpose of a small trip

Catalan: encàrrec m. Chinese: Mandarin: trad. 任務, simpl. 任务 (rènwù) Danish: ærinde n.

Finnish: asia (fi), tehtävä (fi) German: Besorgung (de) f. Greek: θέλημα (el) (thélima) n., μικροδουλειά (el) (mikrodouliá) f. Swedish: ärende (sv) n.

oral message

Finnish: viesti (fi), sana (fi)

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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Portuguese-Brazil: jornada

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

• darner
• Darren