message

[mes-ij] /ˈmɛs ɪdʒ/
noun
1.
a communication containing some information, news, advice, request, or the like, sent by messenger, radio, telephone, or other means.
2.
an official communication, as from a chief executive to a legislative body:
the president's message to Congress.
3.
the inspired utterance of a prophet or sage.
4.
Computers. one or more words taken as a unit.
5.
the point, moral, or meaning of a gesture, utterance, novel, motion picture, etc.
Idioms
6.
get the message, Informal. to understand or comprehend, especially to infer the correct meaning from circumstances, hints, etc.:
If we don't invite him to the party, maybe he'll get the message.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English < Old French < Vulgar Latin *missāticum, equivalent to Latin miss(us) sent (past participle of mittere to send) + -āticum -age
Related forms
intermessage, noun
Can be confused
massage, message.
Examples from the web for messages
  • See a sample of the different messages available here.
  • Further messages awaited them at the lower club-house.
  • At the end of the eighteenth century, telegraphy was applied to transmitting messages by moving arms attached to posts.
  • Since then she has repeatedly sent me similar messages, each time promising to visit me, which she has never done.
  • Imagine you are a government official with confidential messages to send.
  • Drivers can now access anything from custom traffic reports to spoken e-mail messages to video games.
  • They disseminate junk information by opening up new e-mail accounts and then automatically delivering a flood of messages.
  • In general, neurons relay messages using chemicals called neurotransmitters.
  • Free-floating messages in the bloodstream could soon provide a unique window into the body.
  • Such messages--encoded as electrical impulses--constantly stream through our nervous system.
British Dictionary definitions for messages

message

/ˈmɛsɪdʒ/
noun
1.
a communication, usually brief, from one person or group to another
2.
an implicit meaning or moral, as in a work of art
3.
a formal communiqué
4.
an inspired communication of a prophet or religious leader
5.
a mission; errand
6.
(pl) (Scot) shopping: going for the messages
7.
(informal) get the message, to understand what is meant
verb
8.
(transitive) to send as a message, esp to signal (a plan, etc)
Word Origin
C13: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin missāticum (unattested) something sent, from Latin missus, past participle of mittere to send
Word Origin and History for messages

message

n.

c.1300, "communication transmitted via a messenger," from Old French message "message, news, tidings, embassy" (11c.), from Medieval Latin missaticum, from Latin missus "a sending away, sending, despatching; a throwing, hurling," noun use of past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission). The Latin word is glossed in Old English by ærende. Specific religious sense of "divinely inspired communication via a prophet" (1540s) led to transferred sense of "the broad meaning (of something)," first attested 1828. To get the message "understand" is from 1960.

v.

"to send messages," 1580s, from message (n.). Related: Messaged; messaging.

Slang definitions & phrases for messages

message

verb

To send a message on the Internet •The sense ''to send a message'' is found by 1583: '' I need to do it,'' Baker messaged a man with whom he had been discussing rape, torture, and murder (1990s+ Computer)


Idioms and Phrases with messages

message

see: get the message