missive
English
Etymology
15th Century; from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Medieval Latin missivus, from mittere (“to send”).
Pronunciation
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Noun
missive (plural missives)
- (formal) A written message; a letter, note or memo.
- c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 346, column 1:
- [Y]ou / Did pocket vp my Letters: and with taunts / Did gibe my Miſive out of audience.
- 2008, Claire Armistead, The Guardian, 25 Oct 2008:
- The Madonna letters, which are interspersed with more personal missives in this curious epistolary memoir, accumulate into a rap about the downsides of celebrity - the problems of ageing, of invaded privacy, of becoming vain and impetuously adopting children from other continents.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 71:
- "Curses throttle thee!" yelled Ahab. "Captain Mayhew, stand by now to receive it"; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck's hands, he caught it in the slit of the pole, and reached it over towards the boat.
- (in the plural, Scotland, law) Letters sent between two parties in which one makes an offer and the other accepts it.
- (obsolete) One who is sent; a messenger.
- c. 1606: Macbeth by Shakespeare
- Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which title these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail king that shalt be.’
- c. 1606: Macbeth by Shakespeare
Translations
a written message
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Adjective
missive (not comparable)
- Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent.
- a letter missive
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ayliffe to this entry?)
- (obsolete) Serving as a missile; intended to be thrown.
- (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The missive weapons fly.
- (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Related terms
- See mission for terms etymologically related to send
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “missive”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
French
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
missive f (plural missives)
Italian
Noun
missive f
Categories:
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English 2-syllable words
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- en:Law
- English terms with obsolete senses
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