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herald

 - 3 dictionary results

her⋅ald

  [her-uhld]
Use herald in a Sentence
–noun
1. (formerly) a royal or official messenger, esp. 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; ME herau(l)d < OF herau(l)t < Frankish *heriwald, equiv. to *heri army + *wald commander (see wield ). Compare name Harold

Synonyms:
7. publicize, ballyhoo, tout.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To herald
her·ald   (hěr'əld)   
n.  

  1. A person who carries or proclaims important news; a messenger.

  2. One that gives a sign or indication of something to come; a harbinger: The crocus is a herald of spring.

  3. An official whose specialty is heraldry.

    1. An official formerly charged with making royal proclamations and bearing messages of state between sovereigns.

    2. An official who formerly made proclamations and conveyed challenges at a tournament.

tr.v.   her·ald·ed, her·ald·ing, her·alds
To proclaim; announce: cheers that heralded the team's arrival.

[Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, of Germanic origin; see koro- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

herald 
c.1276 (in Anglo-Latin), "messenger, envoy," from Anglo-Fr. heraud, from O.Fr. heraut, hiraut, perhaps from Frank. *hariwald "commander of an army," from P.Gmc. *kharjaz "army" (from PIE root *koro- "war") + *wald- "to command, rule" (see wield). The form fits, but the sense evolution is difficult to explain, unless in ref. to the chief officer of a tournament, who introduced knights and made decisions on rules. The verb is c.1384, from the noun. Heraldry "art of arms and armorial bearings" is first recorded 1390, as heraldy, from O.Fr. hiraudie, from hiraut, originally "heralds collectively." The spelling with -r- is attested from 1572 (cf. poetry, pedantry).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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