herald

[her-uh ld] /ˈhɛr əld/
noun
1.
(formerly) a royal or official messenger, especially one representing a monarch in an ambassadorial capacity during wartime.
2.
a person or thing that precedes or comes before; forerunner; harbinger:
the returning swallows, those heralds of spring.
3.
a person or thing that proclaims or announces:
A good newspaper should be a herald of truth.
4.
(in the Middle Ages) an officer who arranged tournaments and other functions, announced challenges, marshaled combatants, etc., and who was later employed also to arrange processions, funerals, etc., and to regulate the use of armorial bearings.
5.
an official intermediate in rank between a king-of-arms and a pursuivant, in the Heralds' College in England or the Heralds' Office in Scotland.
verb (used with object)
6.
to give news or tidings of; announce; proclaim:
a publicity campaign to herald a new film.
7.
to indicate or signal the coming of; usher in.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English herau(l)d < Old French herau(l)t < Frankish *heriwald, equivalent to *heri army + *wald commander (see wield). Compare name Harold
Synonyms
7. publicize, ballyhoo, tout.
Examples from the web for herald
  • To be honest, we hesitate to herald such facts.
  • Clouds, too, often herald changes in the weather.
  • They are tiny members of the buttercup family and one of the earliest flowers to herald winter's end.
  • The stock market's up and down behavior may be a herald of trouble ahead.
  • Evaporation will begin and with it the great snowfalls that will herald a new ice age.
  • With its feather-lightness, its softly cushioned sole — this is the way to herald the return of the perfectly plain pump.
  • Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of all revolutions.
  • That's pretty impressive and may herald important changes in the way articles are written and edited.
  • On benches above the streambed, yellow and pink blooms of prickly pear cactus herald the spring.
  • If the findings bear out, they may herald a potential new treatment for an age-old condition.
British Dictionary definitions for herald

herald

/ˈhɛrəld/
noun
1.
  1. a person who announces important news
  2. (as modifier): herald angels
2.
(often literary) a forerunner; harbinger
3.
the intermediate rank of heraldic officer, between king-of-arms and pursuivant
4.
(in the Middle Ages) an official at a tournament
verb (transitive)
5.
to announce publicly
6.
to precede or usher in
Word Origin
C14: from Old French herault, of Germanic origin; compare Old English here war; see wield
Word Origin and History for herald
n.

late 13c. (in Anglo-Latin); c.1200 as a surname, "messenger, envoy," from Anglo-French heraud, Old French heraut, hiraut (12c.), perhaps from Frankish *hariwald "commander of an army," from Proto-Germanic *harja "army" (from PIE root *koro- "war;" see harry) + *waldaz "to command, rule" (see wield). The form fits, but the sense evolution is difficult to explain, unless in reference to the chief officer of a tournament, who introduced knights and made decisions on rules (which was one of the early senses, often as heraud of armes, though not the earliest in English).

v.

late 14c., "to sound the praises of," from herald (n.). Related: Heralded; heralding.