▪ I. mission, n.
(ˈmɪʃən)
[ad. L. missiōn-em, n. of action f. mittĕre (miss-) to send. Cf. F. mission, in OF. = expenses (Cotgr.), from 16th c. in sense 3, from 17th c. in sense 4; Sp. mision, formerly mission (= ‘dismissal’ in Orozco 1611 s.v. Missa); It. missione.]
† 1. a. The action or an act of sending. Obs.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 189 Whose glorious deedes..Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselues, And draue great Mars to faction. 1611 Florio, Missióne, a mission, a sending. 1647 Missive of Consolation Pref. A 2, This Mission of my thoughts into my country. 1658 Osborn Adv. Son Wks. (1673) 225 Nor can this Mission to the Tower be looked upon for less than the best Fortune so high a Malefactor could be capable of. 1662 Petty Taxes 13 The numerous missions of Cattle and Sheep out of Ireland. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 87 The Extent of the Presidency is larger in its Missions than Residency. |
b. Among the Jesuits, the sending of members of the order to seminaries abroad or on missionary work; also, a body of men thus sent, or the errand on which they are sent.
Obs.| 1598 in Foley Rec. Eng. Prov. Soc. Jesus (1878) III. 723 Ye continuallie confluence of the rares and bestes [sic] wittes of our nation to the Seminaires, and ther constance in following their missions. Ibid. 724 Thes evident testimones of missions and remissions..sent continuallie to Fr. P. by expresse messingers. 1606 Ibid. 268 Beinge sent in mission to the Colledge of Siville. 1644 Ibid. 66. |
2. A sending or being sent to perform some function or service;
Theol. the sending of the Second or Third Person of the Trinity by the First, or of the Third Person by the Second, for the production of a temporal effect.
| 1609 Bible (Douay) Joel ii. comm., The mission of the Holie Ghost performed on Whitsunday. 1676 Hale Contempl. i. 310 The miraculous Mission of his Holy Spirit visibly and audibly. 1745 tr. Coetlogon's Univ. Hist. Arts & Sci. II. 1180 The Mission whereby Christ came into the World in the human Flesh. 1752 J. Gill Trinity vii. 138 The greatness of God's love in the gift and mission of his Son. 1846 J. C. Hare (title) The Mission of the Comforter. 1897 Catholic Dict. (ed. 5) 904/1 It cannot..be said that all three Persons are sent, because mission consists in the procession of one Person from another. |
3. Eccl. The action of sending men forth with authority to preach the faith and administer the sacraments; also, the authority given by God or the Church to preach.
| 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 186 Christ..in the Mission first of his Twelve, and after of his Seventy. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Mission (says a Roman Catholick Author) is a giving of Orders, Jurisdiction and power to preach that Doctrine, which is taught by the Catholick Church, and to administer the Sacraments. 1672–5 T. Comber Comp. Temple (1702) 291 These words, Receive the Holy Ghost..are properly used by us on the ordinary Mission of Pastors. a 1699 Stillingfl., 50 Serm. (1707) xlviii. 729 That Christ and his Apostles did work..Miracles..and this for a Confirmation of their Divine Mission. 1727–52 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Jesus Christ gave his disciples their mission in these words, Go, and teach all nations, &c. The Romanists reproach the Protestants, that their ministers have no mission. 1884 Catholic Dict. 584/2 Mission is inseparably connected with jurisdiction. 1894 J. T. Fowler Adamnan Introd. 28 To obtain consecration and mission from Pope Caelestine I. |
4. a. A body of persons sent to a foreign country,
esp. for the purpose of conducting negotiations, establishing political or commercial relations, watching over certain interests, etc.
| 1626 Bacon New Atl. (1627) 19 That in either of these Shipps, ther should be a Mission of three of the Fellowes, or Brethren of Salomon's House; whose Errand was onely to giue vs Knowledge of the Affaires..of those Countries, to which they were designed. 1662 Petty Taxes 27 The envy which precedent missions of English [in Ireland] have against the subsequent. 1791 Washington in Amer. State Papers (1833) I. 127 An additional motive for this confidential mission arose in the same quarter. 1813 Edin. Rev. XXI. 155 The French mission was still suffered to remain in Stockholm, until the Moniteur mentioned the behaviour of Gustavus disrespectfully. 1816 J. Pickering Vocab., Mission... It was first employed as a diplomatic term, I believe, by American writers. 1845 T. H. Horne in Encycl. Metrop. XVIII. 26/1 (1) Diplomatic Missions..the object of which is, affairs of State or Politics..; (2) Missions of Ceremony or Etiquette, the object of which is, notifications or compliments of congratulation or condolence..; (3) Fixed Missions, in which the Diplomatic Agent..is charged with watching over the various objects above mentioned. |
b. U.S. A permanent diplomatic establishment, embassy, or legation.
| 1805 Amer. State Papers (1832) II. 669 As nothing was said in my communication respecting the ordinary mission, it remains of course in force. 1890 Century Dict. s.v., The members of the British mission at Washington. |
5. a. A body of persons sent out by a religious community into foreign lands for the conversion of the heathen. Also (
esp. pl.) the organized effort involved in the preparation and equipment of such bodies; called distinctively
foreign missions (
cf. b).
| 1622 Bacon Holy War Misc. Wks. (1629) 96 The Church..maketh her Missions, into the Extreme Parts, of the Nations, and Isles. 1648 Gage West Ind. 3 Missions..of Voluntiers, Fryers mendicants, Priests or Monkes, or else of forced Jesuites. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 42 S. Francis Xaverius..was called the Apostle of the Indies, his order continues their mission thither stil. 1660 Dryden Astræa Redux 193 Like zealous Missions, they did care pretend Of souls in show, but made the gold their end. 1768 A. Maclaine tr. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Cent. xvii. i. §18 The African missions were allotted to this austere Order by the court of Rome. 1830 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) II. 632/2 A mission consists in general of one or two friars or priests, who settle among the savages [etc.]. 1864 Chamb. Encycl. VI. 488/2 The mission in the south of India soon received the support of the English Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 515/2 In 1882 the amount raised by British contributions alone to foreign missions amounted to upwards of {pstlg}1,900,000. |
b. With qualifying word: An organization for the evangelization, spiritual instruction, or moral betterment of various classes of people;
e.g. home mission,
city mission,
police-court mission. (
Cf. missionary B. 1.)
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 271/2 Within the last four years, ‘City Missions’ have been formed in London and several of the large towns. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 318 That the object of the London City Mission is most noble..admits of no dispute. 1861 E. L. Cutts (title) Home Missions and Church Extension. |
c. Congregation of the Priests of the Mission: a congregation founded by
St. Vincent de Paul in 1624, mainly for the evangelization of the poor; also known as Lazarites.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr. s.v. Missionaries,..Also, a particular institute in France, called the Fathers of the Mission; who go by pairs,..preach and catechize, and perform other pastoral Offices. 1727–52 Chambers Cycl., Mission is also the name of a congregation of priests and laymen, instituted by Vincent De Paul, and confirmed in 1626 by pope Urban VIII. under the title of Priests of the congregation of the mission. 1845 Encycl. Metrop. XIII. 488/1 The Priests of the Mission.. acted as home-missionaries. |
6. a. A permanent establishment of missionaries in a country; a particular field of missionary activity; a missionary post or station.
| 1769 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 189 An officer that has lived seven years in the missions of Paraguay. 1825 Southey Tale Paraguay iii. xiv, They..To the nearest mission sped and ask'd the Jesuit's aid. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. viii. 100 Nocturnal birds the fat of which is employed in the Missions for dressing food. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xix, The mission of Conception..is a very large stone building. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 65 Dr. Weddell descended the river Tipuani to Guanay, a mission of Lecos Indians. |
b. transf. An organization, usually including a church with quasi-parochial institutions, established in a particular district for the spiritual betterment or conversion of the people;
spec. R.C. Ch. (see
quot. 1884).
| c 1800 C. Butler Acc. A. Butler in Lives of Saints (1847) I. 8 The vicar-apostolic of the middle district..appointed him to a mission in Staffordshire. 1845 Catholic Direct. 27 Hackney... This interesting Mission was established in July, 1843. 1884 Catholic Dict. 585/2 In countries where the majority of the population is non-Catholic..the priests having charge of souls are not inducted into parishes, but stationed on missions. 1903 C. E. Osborne Father Dolling v, It was resolved that Magdalen College should adopt S. Martin's Maidman Street, as its mission. |
7. A special series or course of religious services, sermons, instructions, etc. organized in connexion with a particular church or parish for the purpose of stimulating the piety of believers and converting the unbelieving.
| 1772 Nugent Hist. Fr. Gerund I. 287 note, In the time of Lent many preachers go about from town to town, inveighing vehemently against sin, and strenuously exhorting to repentance, which is called going upon a Mission. 1826 H. D. Best Four Yrs. France xiv. 301 In the second year of my sojourn, a mission was preached at Avignon. 1862 [see missioner]. 1906 Ch. Times 26 Oct. 513 The first service of the Ruridecanal Hampstead Mission. |
8. a. The commission, business, or function with which a messenger, envoy, or agent is charged; now
esp. the errand on which a political mission is sent.
| 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 114 How to accomplish best His end of being on Earth, and mission high. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts xi. (1705) 135 None of the rest of the Apostles stand in competition with St. Paul for this Mission [sc. of converting Britain]. 1820 Scott Abbot ii, ‘No’, answered the old woman, sternly; ‘to part is enough. I go forth on my own mission’. 1836 Thirlwall Greece III. 365 Phæax possessed talents well suited for negotiation,..but..he met with such opposition as to deter him from proceeding further on the business of his mission. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1376 Another hurrying past, a man-at-arms, Rode on a mission to the bandit Earl. 1863 Ld. Russell in R. F. Burton Mission to Gelele (1864) p. x, You were informed..that you had been selected by her Majesty's Government to proceed on a Mission to the King of Dahomey, to confirm the friendly sentiments expressed by Commodore Wilmot to the King. 1873 Hale In His Name vi. 108 It seemed to him..that there was not one..who seemed to take the least interest in his mission. |
b. orig. U.S. A military operation or project;
esp. the dispatch of an aircraft or spacecraft on an operational flight; also
transf.| 1929 E. W. Dichman This Aviation Business v. 107 Night, heavy long-distance, slow, and large all describe a certain type of airplane designed to accomplish a particular mission. 1939 Aircraft Yearbk. iii. 64 Many missions were flown, day and night, by participating bombardment and attack units. 1944 Amer. N. & Q. Apr. 15/2 Mission, ordered operation against the enemy, such as dropping bombs, strafing ground troops and ships, dropping parachute troops, flying diversions (missions intended to draw the enemy away from the main objective), taking photographs, etc. 1962 J. Glenn in Into Orbit 43 The clock is pre-set on the ground according to a timing for retro-fire which we have computed before the mission. 1968 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 1 July (1970) 694 Lynda heard from Chuck... He had returned from a mission and..had only time to read two or three letters, write her.., stuff a few more into his pocket, and leave on another mission! 1969 Times 23 May 1/2 Twice during the critical hours before the separation of the lunar module..from the command service module..the mission's future looked doubtful. 1971 Daily Tel. 19 July 7 Apollo 15, America's eighth manned flight for the Moon, is due to be launched on a 12-day mission..from Cape Kennedy a week today. |
9. That which a person is designed or destined to do; a duty or function imposed on or assumed by a person; (a person's) vocation or work in life. Also
transf. attributed to things. Sometimes
trivial or
contemptuous.
| a 1805 Wordsw. Prelude i. Introd. 5 Whate'er its mission, the soft breeze can come To none more grateful than to me. 1819 Byron Juan ii. clxxxii, Who..Thought daily service was her only mission. 1839 Carlyle Chartism iii. (1858) 14 Work is the mission of man in this Earth. 1843 Prescott Mexico iv. iii. (1864) 225 They..held it to be their ‘mission’ (to borrow the cant phrase of our own day) to conquer and to convert. 1848 Ld. Brougham Of Revolutions Wks. 1857 VIII. 322 She [sc. France]..has a mission, what we would term a vocation, to hasten and help the Discontented. 1865 Lowell Thoreau Prose Wks. (1890) I. 362 Everybody had a mission (with a capital M) to attend to everybody-else's business. 1881 W. S. Gilbert Patience ii. I am a man with a mission. |
10. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
mission-agent,
mission-boat,
mission-chapel,
mission-church,
mission-college,
mission farm,
mission-field,
mission-hall,
mission-house,
mission-journey,
mission land,
mission lecture-room,
mission-preacher,
mission-preaching,
mission-premises,
mission-room,
mission-school,
mission-seminary,
mission-service,
mission-ship,
mission-society,
mission station,
mission style,
mission-teacher,
mission-tower,
mission-vessel,
mission-work; also
mission-bred,
mission-trained,
mission-ward adjs.| 1888 E. J. Mather Nor'ard of Dogger 98 The work accomplished by the *mission-agents. |
| 1903 Month Aug. 150 Two small *mission boats were built. |
| 1909 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Jan. 3/2 He makes capital fun of the *mission-bred Kaffir's misuse of book-learning. |
| 1871 Scribner's Monthly I. 497 His church was only a *mission chapel, supported by a richer society of the same denomination. 1883 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. x, He had ..a mission chapel to serve in some slum or other. |
| 1792 in Missionary Mag. (1797) II. 217 He preaches twice every Lord's Day, in the *Mission church, in Calcutta. |
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 274/2 The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel founded a *mission college at Calcutta in 1820. |
| a 1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) ii. 13 He had found his early way to California, bought a *mission farm, and established himself as a ranchero. |
| 1856 Mission Field Jan. 5 The ‘*Mission Field’ of the Society may be said to extend over an area of 7,000,000 square miles. |
| 1859 L. N. R. Missing Link i. 10 Many churches..maintain..their own missionaries, and have their own Home *Mission halls. |
| 1794 C. I. Latrobe tr. Loskiel's Hist. Mission among Indians N. Amer. ii. xii. 166 The *mission-house on the Mahony..was..burnt. 1824 W. H. Keating Narr. Exped. St. Peter's River (1825) 150 At the time we passed at the Carey mission-house, this gentleman was absent on business. 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 274/2 Funds for the erection of churches and mission-houses. |
| 1902 T. M. Lindsay Church & Min. in Early Cent. iv. 163 The *Mission-journey of Paul and Barnabas. |
| 1851 Whig Almanac 1852 18/2 The Commissioners are required to report to the Secretary of the Interior the tenure by which the *Mission lands are held. |
| 1851 R. Nesbit in Mem. xii. (1858) 305 After receiving ‘licence’, he preached in the *Mission Lecture Room. |
| 1898 Dublin Rev. Apr. 315 A very holy Franciscan *mission-preacher. |
| 1884 Catholic Dict. (1897) 634/2 In substance, *mission-preaching has been employed in every age of the Church. |
| 1848 Thomson Hist. Sk. Secession Ch. 153 More recently *mission-premises were erected. |
| 1888 Q. Rev. CLXVI. 57 The multiplication of *mission-rooms in squalid districts. |
| 1879–80 Webster Suppl., *Mission-school, a school for children who do not regularly attend a church, or who are poor and neglected. (U.S.) |
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XV. 273/2 So successfully has the work of education been conducted in the *mission seminary. |
| 1839 Ibid. 272/1 A South-Sea *mission-ship. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. xvii. 529 They..hoped shortly to be called for by the mission-ship to return. |
| 1809 C. Simeon in W. Carus Life (1847) 272 The religious dissipation of *Mission Societies. |
| 1828 I. McCoy in Kansas Hist. Q. (1936) V. 243 Here we intersected a waggon road leading from the settlements on Missouri River to Harmony *Mission Station. 1844 J. McDonogh Papers (1898) 78 One of these young men..is now at the mission station at Settra Kroo, Liberia, keeping a school for the native youth. 1876 W. Booth in H. Begbie Life W. Booth (1920) I. xxv. 417 What is a Mission Station?.. It is not a building..; it is not even a society, but a band of people united together to mission,..to christianize an entire town or neighbourhood. 1884 Lady Martin Our Maoris i. 15 The Bishop came a day or two later, as he had to visit a mission station on the way. 1971 Scope (S. Afr.) 19 Mar. 31/1 The maternal grandfather..came to take up the same mission station. |
| 1909 Wells & Hooper Mod. Cabinet Work 257 In America there has been a similar movement, known as ‘The *Mission Style’, which is more or less a revival of Gothic and Jacobean forms applied to modern work. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 122 I've got several magnificent mission style bungalows. 1948 A. L. Kroeber Anthropol. (rev. ed.) xii. 484 Since the American occupation, the buildings and ruins of the Spanish period have stood out as landmarks and have set the model for a type of architecture: the Mission style, which in essentials is nothing but Spanish Moorish architecture. 1972 M. Mead Blackberry Winter x. 117 The apartment Luther had found [in 1923] was small enough for the furniture we had: a strong round folding table,..Luther's mission-style desk, [etc.]. |
| 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 557 Two *mission-teachers. |
| 1868 B. Harte Angelus Poems (1886) 7 The dome-shaped *Mission towers. |
| 1965 Listener 27 May 766/1 The men at the top in Uganda and Tanganyika were both *mission-trained teachers. |
| 1888 E. J. Mather Nor'ard of Dogger 95 The fleets where *mission-vessels are stationed. |
| 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) I. i. i. 8 The *missionward march was taken up. |
| 1861 (title) A Few Words to Bible *Mission-women. |
| 1888 H. C. Lea Hist. Inquis. II. 34 Their arduous and dangerous *mission-work. |
b. mission control collect., a group or organization responsible for directing a spacecraft and its crew;
mission furniture U.S., a plain, solid style of furniture said to have been modelled originally on the furniture of the Spanish missions in North America;
mission oak U.S., mission furniture made of oak;
mission stiff U.S. slang, (
a) a missionary; (
b) one who frequents missions,
esp. a tramp who is religious or who pretends to be religious so as to get free food and lodging.
| 1964 J. L. Nayler Dict. Astronautics 165 *Mission Control Center. The Center..is due to be operational in 1964 for Gemini rendezvous flights. 1969 Times 16 July 5/8 Key abbreviations used by mission control and the astronauts will be [etc.]. 1973 Guardian 21 May 2/7 After the first switch-over, mission control commanded the computer to move back to the primary coolant circuit. |
| 1900 Harper's Bazaar 28 Apr. 388/1 She stumbled upon an artistic small shop filled to overflowing with what the salesman called *Mission furniture. 1910 Daily Chron. 24 Jan. 3/5, I have often wondered why the modest designs of the mission furniture are so attractive. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 9 Apr. (Show Guide) 15/1 The turn-of-the-century Mission furniture,..coming into popularity with the recent art nouveau revival. |
| 1927 U. Sinclair Oil! 223 Inside was furniture of a style called ‘*mission oak’. 1973 Washington Post 13 Jan. F.1/8 (Advt.), Big mission oak library table. |
| 1904 ‘No. 1500’ Life in Sing Sing 256/2 *Mission stiff, missionary; a convert. 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route v. 58 You may hang on to the good life for a time, while your erstwhile companions in sin dub you a ‘mission stiff’. 1948 Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 676 At the bottom of the pile are the poor wretches..who..gravitate dismally toward the big cities, to become beggars and mission-stiffs. |
▪ II. mission, v. (
ˈmɪʃən)
[f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To send on a mission; to give (a person) a mission to perform. Chiefly in
pass.| 1692 Beverley Disc. Dr. Crisp 19 Whom the Spirit of God..hath so Missiond, Commission'd, and Enabled. 1737 Dream ii, To native Heav'n they're fled, and there have Place, Till mission'd to attend her Rising Race. 1785 Gentl. Mag. IV. i. 66 The English..thinking that being missioned to the States of Barbary I might command some attention from the Algerines. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 701 A disguis'd demon, missioned to knit My soul with under darkness. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xi. ix. IV. 106 We shall see him expressly missioned hither. 1887 Temple Bar Sept. 32 Parties, each led by its own captain, and missioned to its separate duty, began to go forth. |
b. nonce-use. To send.
| 1824 Hood Two Swans xxi, And through the shadows dun He missions like replies. |
2. To conduct a religious mission among (a people) or in (a district).
| 1772 Nugent Hist. Fr. Gerund I. 287, I have heard the Theatines say [so]..when they come to mission our souls for us. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 25 Apr. 7/1 The young lady missionaries who have been sent out to Algeria to mission the natives. 1894 Mexborough & Swinton Times 30 Nov. 5/2 The brass band missioned the streets morning and afternoon. |
3. intr. To conduct a mission.
| 1898 Athenæum 5 Nov. 648/2 It was used by St. Augustine when he was missioning in those parts. |