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message

 - 5 dictionary results

mes⋅sage

  [mes-ij]
Use message in a Sentence
–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.
—Idiom
6. get the message, Informal. to understand or comprehend, esp. 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; ME < OF < VL *missāticum, equiv. to L miss(us) sent (ptp. of mittere to send) + -āticum -age
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mes·sage   (měs'ĭj)   
n.  

    1. A usually short communication transmitted by words, signals, or other means from one person, station, or group to another.

    2. The substance of such a communication; the point or points conveyed: gestured to a waiter, who got the message and brought the bill.

  2. A statement made or read before a gathering: a retiring coach's farewell message.

  3. A basic thesis or lesson; a moral: a play with a message.

v.   tr. mes·saged, mes·sag·ing, mes·sag·es

  1. To send a message to.

  2. To send as a message: messaged the report by cable.

v.   intr.
To send a message; communicate.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin missāticum, from Latin missus, past participle of mittere, to send.]
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

message 
1297, "communication transmitted via a messenger," from O.Fr. message, from M.L. missaticum, from L. missus, pp. of mittere "to send." The L. word is glossed in O.E. by ærende. Specific religious sense of "divinely inspired communication via a prophet" (1546) let to transf. sense of "the broad meaning (of something)," first attested 1828. To get the message "understand" is from 1964.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

message
In object-oriented programming sending a message to an object (to invoke a method) is equivalent to calling a procedure in traditional programming languages, except that the actual code executed may only be selected at run time depending on the class of the object. Thus, in response to the message "drawSelf", the method code invoked would be different if the target object were a circle or a square.
(1995-02-16)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Idioms & Phrases

message

see get the message.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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