▪ I. convoy, v. trans.
(kənˈvɔɪ)
[a. F. convoy-er (12th c. in Littré) = It. conviare: see convey.]
I. To accompany, escort.
1. In general sense. Chiefly Sc.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xv. 269 Quhen he convoyit had to these His brothir Edward and his menȝhe. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxviii. 61 [He] conwoyit þame wpwart þe gate And went be-for þame to þe yhate. 1549 Compl. Scot. xvii. 149 The comont pepil met them..vitht grit solempnite, and syne conuoyit them to the plane mercat befor the capitol. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 19 The king..convoyed in form foresaid, came frae the Abbey and sat with the lords of the articles. 1774 Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 303 Several gentlemen, who..convoyed us from place to place. |
| fig. 1879 Lowell Poet. Wks. 388 May sunniest hours Convoy you from this land of ours. |
b. esp. To escort (a lady), conduct (guests). arch.
| 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. i, Gad's so, you will permit me to convoy her in? 1785 Burns Cotter's Sat. Nt. vii, Jenny..Tells how a neebor lad cam o'er the moor To do some errands, and convoy her hame. 1816 Scott Old Mort. iii, May I be permitted to convoy your ladyship and Miss Bellenden home? 1849 C. Brontë Shirley vi, Caroline, having been convoyed home by Robert. 1889 Cornh. Mag. Feb., The County v, We are convoyed through the hall by Sir Joseph. |
2. To accompany as guide or conductor; to conduct, guide. arch. Chiefly Sc.
| 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 101 Vespasian..was convoyit be certane treasonabill Britonis, quhare the Albianis war. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 42 Ther come pipis, calland and conuoyand mony fat floc to be fed on the feildis. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. (1682) 295 And change as many Horses as he listeth, having the masters which owe them to convoy them for less or longer way. 1846 Hawthorne Mosses i. iii. 67 Many of the company had bespoken a will-o'-the-wisp to convoy them home. |
| fig. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. ii. 34 O thou sueit goddes..Convoy and teche thi poet to say richt. 1585 James I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 42 That old blind Dame..which dois conuoy Her quheill by gess. |
† 3. To conduct or lead (a band of men); to conduct or drive (a vehicle). Obs.
| 1513 Douglas æneis xi. i. 51 And all the ȝonkeris meyt for swerdis dynt Of thar tentis convoyit in array. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 753 The Chariot of Paternal Deitie..convoyd By four Cherubic shapes. |
4. To escort with, or as, an armed force for protection.
| 1559–66 Hist. Estate Scot. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 57 John Knox, being convoyed to Dundie, preached the Word. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 93 The King..sent the Governour of the Citie and about fiftie horsemen to convoy him to his lodging. 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 976/2 Yesterday..2500 French Foot, Convoy'd by several Squadrons of Horse, approach'd the Suburb of this City. 1726 Cavallier Mem. iv. 297 A fresh Guard was to convoy me to Dijon in Burgoundy. 1823 Southey Hist. Penins. War I. 294 For honour as well as protection, Tio Jorge, with an escort of musqueteers, convoyed him the first stage. |
b. esp. said of ships of war accompanying merchant or passenger vessels.
| 1641 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 18 Embarked in a Dutch frigate, bound for Flushing, convoyed and accompanied by five other stout vessels. 1665 Pepys Diary 9 May. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. (1817) I. ii. 342 The fleet without delay convoyed the Queen into France. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 182 To prevent Admiral de Torres from convoying the galleons from the Havannah to Old Spain. 1862 Sat. Rev. 15 Mar. 288 In the present situation of belligerent rights, numbers of English men-of-war must..be employed in convoying merchantmen. 1885 J. K. Laughton in Dict. Nat. Biog. IV. 33/2 The squadron..which convoyed the homeward trade in the next autumn. |
II. To convey, carry, carry on.
† 5. To convey, carry. lit. and fig. Obs.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. xxxi. (1869) 152 Þere j see gretest winnynge, thider j conuoye my tunge..as j see þer ben most pens. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. xiii, To fitter place their noisome load convoying. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii. 47/1 With what loyalty they will use me in conuoying this Truth to my understanding. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1829) 72 Alexander Keith.. was convoyed out of the tolbooth of Aberdeen in a trunk to a boat ready lying at the shore. 1673 R. Ligon Barbadoes 1 To lay hold on the first opportunity that might convoy me to any other part of the World. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3888/4 Boast to convoy Letters and Pacquets between England and the Islands of Barbadoes, Antego, etc. |
† b. refl. To transport or betake oneself. rare.
| 1706 Maule Hist. Picts in Misc. Scot. I. 13 Those Britons convoyed themselves into the western parts of the Island. |
† 6. To conduct or carry through (an affair); to manage. Obs. Chiefly Sc.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy Prol., To convoy it with thine influence. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems, ‘Thir ladyis fair’, With littill noy, Thay can convoy Ane mater fynaly. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. v. 15 Not onexpert to convoy sik a thing. 1549 Compl. Scot. Ded. 4 His..entreprise vas conuoyit and succurrit be ane diuyne miracle. a 1662 R. Baillie Lett. (1775) I. 382 (Jam.) A thorny business..which the moderator, by great wisdom, got cannily convoyed. |
Hence conˈvoying vbl. n.
| 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 161 His daughter was a convoying homewards by the Prince of Mauritania. 1651 Reliq. Wotton. 453 (R.), I aim at the convoying of you up to your Eton. |
▪ II. convoy, n.
(ˈkɒnvɔɪ)
[a. F. convoi (in Froissart, 15th c.), f. convoyer to convoy.]
I. Conduct of oneself or of affairs.
† 1. Carriage (of oneself), deportment, demeanour, conduct. Sc. Obs.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Dance in Q.'s Chalmer, Quhen I saw hir sa trimlye dance, Hir guid conwoy and countenance. |
† 2. Conduct, management; artful management, art, trick. Sc. Obs.
| c 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis in Sempill Ball. 202 Bot how, alace, as ye shall heir Betrayed thame bayth with a tryme convoy. 1599 A. Hume Hymns (1832) 62 Thinke not that thou by thy industrie, convoy, or diligence, art able to accomplishe onye gude thing. |
II. The act of convoying.
3. The act of convoying or escorting; escort for honour, guidance, or protection.
| 1557 in Lodge Illust. Brit. Hist. (1791) I. 283 The French wold not suffer the same to departe without the convoye of some great man. 1634 Milton Comus 81 Through this adventurous glade..to give him safe convoy. 1652 Bp. Hall Invis. World i. §8 It is..hard to believe that there have been ocular witnesses of these happy convoys. 1676 Dryden Aurengz. v. i, Your Convoy makes the dangerous Way secure. 1808 Scott Marm. v. xviii, They deemed it hopeless to avoid The convoy of their dangerous guide. 1873 Browning Red Cotton Night-Cap Country 234 No dream warned, and no need of convoy was. |
b. In mod. Sc. The accompanying of a person part of his way homeward, or on a journey.
| 1816 Scott Antiq. xxx, ‘It's just a Kelso convoy, a step and a half o'er the door-stane.’ 1825–79 Jamieson s.v., A Scots convoy, accompanying one to the door, or ‘o'er the dorestane’. In Aberdeen..signifying more than half way home. Ibid., Kelso Convoy. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scot. (1855) 333. |
4. spec. The protection of an escorting force; esp. of ships of war.
| 1690 Child Disc. Trade (ed. 4) 4 To sail always in fleets, to which in all time of danger they allow Convoy. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3280/2 His Majesty's Ship the Chester, with several Vessels under her Convoy. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, III. xii. 372 He set sail..under convoy of a large fleet. 1836 W. Irving Astoria III. 237 The frigate Phœbe, and the two sloops of war Cherub and Racoon, had sailed in convoy of the Isaac Todd from Rio Janeiro. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 435 So difficult was it to obtain the convoy of a man of war, except by giving immense bribes. |
† 5. Conveyance, transport (of supplies). rare.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxi. lvii. 426 Whereby all convoy [L. commeatus] of victuals from everie part was stopped, but onely that which came by the Po, in Keeles. |
III. An escort.
6. An honorable escort. a. gen.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. (1682) 237 With this shouting Convoy of six thousand Oriental Christians. 1681 Cotton Wond. Peake 18 Your Peake-bred Convoy of rude Men and Boys, All the way whooting. 1866 Livingstone Jrnl. (1873) I. x. 254 A convoy of honour to Mahamad. |
b. spec. A funeral train or cortége.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccxliii. 781 Of the buryeng of therle of Flaunders and of the comtesse his wyfe, whose bodyes were brought to an abbey besyde Lysle..ther foloweth such as were ordayned for the conuoy. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1363 Heavie funerals and convoies of the dead. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 17 The conuoy of his fathers obsequies. 1863 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 136 The grey convoy of chief-mourner waves. |
c. ‘The company at a marriage that goes to meet the bride, North of Scotl.’ (Jam.). [So f. convoi in Cotgr. ‘a following, waiting, or attending on, esp. in mariage and buriall matters’.]
7. An armed force accompanying or escorting any person or persons, goods, provisions, or munitions of war; a protecting escort.
| 1596 Drayton Legends iii. 613 A chosen Convoy of His chiefest Friends, To guard me safe to Yorke. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 285 Scanderbeg..sent them with a sufficient convoy of horsmen in safety out of Epirus. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 259 The said Convoy consisted of about fifteen hundred horsemen. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada i. iii. i, And with a convoy send him safe away. 1717 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. xxv. I. 80, I desired him to appoint where he would be met by the Turkish convoy. 1800 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. I. 187 This Corps is to move to the redoubt, at which place I shall have occasion for it as a convoy for provisions. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xlv, To Paris, whither she could easily have met with a convoy. |
b. esp. A party of ships of war escorting unarmed vessels.
| 1636 Blunt Voy. Levant (1637) 27 Rhodian Galleys..to be our Convoy against Pyracy. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 4 ¶7 A Dutch Man of War of Forty Guns, which was Convoy to the said Fleet. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 1 Cloudesley Shovel and George Rooke, commanded the men of war which formed the convoy. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 232 A convoy now accompanied the herring fleet for its protection. |
† 8. One who (or that which) guides; a guide, conductor. Obs.
| 1628 Beaum. & Fl. Custom of Country iii. v, Sir, if an angel were to be my convoy, He should not be more welcome. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 39 If God hide his path, Satan is at hand to turne Convoy. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 470 Charity is not only our Convoy to Heaven, but engaged to stay with us there for ever. 1725–6 Pope Odyss. xvii. 289 Oh be some god his convoy to our shore! |
† 9. A thing that conducts, a conducting medium, channel, way, or path. Obs.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 203 Cords made like a tackled staire, Which to the high top gallant of my ioy, Must be my conuoy. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 103 The Nose being the proper Organ and conuoy of the sense of smelling to the braines. 1627 tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1651) 41 The Drink, which is the Convoy of the Meat. 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year (1678) 93 The Religion of a Christian is immortal, and certain..and therefore needs not be received by humane and weak Convoys. |
10. An appliance for conducting or guiding a vehicle; a clog or brake used to check the speed of a coal-wagon descending an incline on rails.
| 1764 Lond. Mag. 144 F is a convoy..it is by this that the waggon is guided when it comes down what the waggon-men call runs. 1825 Tredgold Railroads 106 The waggons are regulated by friction on the surfaces of the wheels, which is produced by the attendant pressing on the end of a bent wooden lever called a convoy, which has its centre of motion fixed to the side of the waggon. 1862 Smiles Engineers III. 11 The waggoner standing behind to check the speed by means of a convoy or wooden brake bearing upon the rims of the wheels. |
IV. A company or individual convoyed.
11. A company under escort. a. A train of carriages or beasts carrying provisions or ammunition to a town or army, under the protection of an escort; a supply of ammunition or provisions under escort.
| 1577 Holinshed Scot. Chron. 479/1 The same army vnder the conduct of the sayde Erle passing forth with a conuoy of vittles unto Hadington. 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 1482/3 A great Convoy is lately arrived at Audenard, with vast quantities of all sorts of Military Provision, and a Train of Artillery. 1691 Hartcliffe Virtues 7 To cut off all unnecessary Convoys of Meats and Drinks, and the Seige cannot last long. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4714/1 A great Convoy of Bread..came yesterday to the Camp. 1827 O. W. Roberts Adv. Cent. Amer. 289 They often met convoys of mules laden with merchandise. 1839 Thirlwall Greece II. 341 The cavalry..surprised a convoy of provisions with 500 beasts of burden. 1859 Smiles Self-Help xiii. (1860) 351 Never ceasing his charge..until he had seen the precious convoy safe on the road to Allahabad. |
b. A fleet or number of merchant ships under the protection of ships of war, or powerful enough to defend themselves.
| 1605 Camden Rem., Epitaphes 38 The sinking of the great galiasse, the taking of their Conuoie, which in the East partes is called a Caruana. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 2 Join'd Company with us his Majesty's Ships..with a large convoy of Merchant-Ships. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Convoy, a fleet of merchant-ships bound on a voyage to some particular part. 1793 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (ed. 2) I. 314 A Convoy was expected from Tunis of twenty-five Sail, with two Sail of the Line, three Frigates and two Corvettes. 1839–40 W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 111, I once fell in with a convoy of merchant ships, bound for the West Indies. |
† c. A company marching together for companionship and mutual protection, a caravan. Obs.
| 1625–6 Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1369 Through these..Countries there is no passage, but with the Caravans or Convoyes. |
d. A consignment of stores under escort; a conducted party.
| 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 31 To this rendezvous the company sends annually a convoy of supplies from its establishment on the Atlantic frontier. Ibid. II. 27 A party of trappers..on a journey with a convoy of goods or peltries. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 152 M. had brought back his convoy without even seeing a moose. |
e. in convoy, (travelling) under escort or together with other ships, vehicles, etc., as a group.
| 1919 Naval Ann. 136 The first sailings in convoy under protection were vessels engaged in the French coal trade. Ibid. 151 By the end of August [1917] all ships homeward bound..were arriving in convoy. 1929 E. Hemingway Farewell to Arms i. viii. 52 Driving in convoy is not unpleasant if you are the first car. 1965 A. J. P. Taylor Eng. Hist. 1914–45 iii. 85 By the end of the war 80 per cent. of shipping to British ports came in convoy. 1979 C. Milne Path through Trees i. ix. 86, I told him not to wait until all the lorries had been unloaded so that they could return in convoy..but to send them back one at a time as soon as they were ready to leave. |
V. attrib. and Comb., as convoy-bond, convoy-duty, convoy-ship; † convoy-carriage, a tender.
| 1695 Dryden Poetry & Paint. Wks. 1808 XVII. 296 As convoy-ships..accompany their merchants. 1803 Pitt in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) II. 8 The repeal of the Convoy Duty. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 892 The convoy bond mentioning the port of destination. 1825 Wood Rail-roads 150 The water and coals required for the regular wants of the engine are carried in the convoy carriage X, attached to the engine. |