▪ I. envoy, n.1
(ˈɛnvɔɪ)
In sense 1 also 4–7 envoye, 9 envoi, and (with prefixed Fr. article) 6–7 l'envoy(e, 9 arch. l'envoi, -voy.
[a. OF. envoy(e (mod. envoi), n. of action f. OF. envoiier (mod. envoyer) to send, f. phrase en voie on the way; cf. Sp. enviar, It. inviare.]
Sending forth.
1. The action of sending forth a poem; hence, the concluding part of a poetical or prose composition; the author's parting words; a dedication, postscript. Now chiefly the short stanza which concludes a poem written in certain archaic metrical forms. arch.
| c 1398 Chaucer (title), Th' enuoye of Fortune. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 250 Thenuoye of thauctour. 1508 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) ii. 230 Thenuoy. 1576 Turberv. (title), Tragical Tales..with the Argument and L'Envoye to ech Tale. 1611 Cotgr., Envoy..th' Enuoy, or conclusion of a Ballet, or Sonnet. 1640 B. Jonson Underwoods, Misc. Poems lx, Another answers, 'las! those silks are none, In smiling l'envoy. 1823 Sismondi's Lit. Eur. (1846) I. vi. 173 The songs are usually in seven stanzas, followed by an envoy, which he calls a tornada. 1823 New Monthly Mag. VII. 194 The last chapter..the moral and envoy of the whole. 1880 Hueffer Macm. Mag. No. 253. 49 There are..six lines to a stanza and six stanzas to a poem, not counting the tornada or envoi of three lines. |
† b. transf. The conclusion of a play; also, a catastrophe, dénouement. Obs.
| 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. v. i, I have given the bride her instructions to breake in upon him in the l'envoy. 1636 Massinger Bashful Lover v. i, Long since I look'd for this l'envoy. |
2. The action of dispatching a messenger or parcel; hence, a mission, errand (arch.). letter of envoy (rare), transl. Fr. lettre d'envoi, a letter advising dispatch of goods.
| 1795 Southey Joan of Arc v. 496 Nor did I feel so pressing the hard hand Of want in Orleans, ere he parted thence On perilous envoy. 1872 in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. XII. 322 A letter of envoi was received. |
▪ II. envoy, n.2
(ˈɛnvɔɪ)
Forms: (7 envoyé, -ée), envoy(e, 7– envoy.
[app. an alteration (in the latter part of 17th c.) of Fr. envoyé (pa. pple. of envoyer to send), which had previously been adopted unchanged.]
1. A public minister sent by one sovereign or government to another for the transaction of diplomatic business. Now applied esp. to diplomatic ministers of the second rank (‘ministers plenipotentiary’) as distinguished from those of the highest rank (‘ambassadors’), and those of the third rank (‘chargés d'affaires’).
The term envoy extraordinary, formerly denoting a minister charged with a special or temporary mission, is now merely the fuller designation of the ‘envoy’ in the narrower sense = minister plenipotentiary.
| [1660 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 359 The Envoyée of the king of Poland. 1664 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 172 He hathe taken care to supply it in the meantime by his Extraordinary Envoyè. 1691 Rycaut in Gentl. Mag. May (1786) 396/1 To treat the Turkish envoyées so ill, as, etc.] 1666 Pepys Diary 11 July, A galliott..that is going to carry the Savoy Envoye [? meant for envoyé] over. 1667 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 31 To the audience of a Russian Envoy in the Queen's presence-chamber. 1710 in Lond. Gaz. No. 4688/1 The Earl of Stair, her Britannick Majesty's Envoy-Extraordinary to King Augustus. 1716 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. vi. 18 Madame..the wife of our king's envoy from Hanover. 1779 J. Moore View Soc. Fr. II. 175, I have been introduced to all of them by Mr. Harris, his Majesty's envoy extraordinary. 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 453 A correspondence which I have begun, by means of the British Envoy. 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 3 Sir Edward Stafford, English envoy in Paris. 1875 H. Reeve in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) I. 657 Diplomatic envoys are of three ranks..1. Ambassadors..2. Envoys extraordinary or ministers plenipotentiary, accredited to sovereigns..3. Chargés d'affaires. |
2. In wider sense: An agent, commissioner, deputy, messenger, representative.
| [1643 Denham Dido Poems (1668) 134 Jove's Envoyé through the Air Brings dismal tydings.] 1696 Tate & Brady Ps. cvi. 16 God's Envoy Moses they oppose. 1712 Blackmore Creation vi. 678 Where [sc. in the brain] their Report the Vital Envoys make. 1820 Irving Sketch Bk. I. 99 Men..have been envoys from England to ransack the poles. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. vi. 48 The intrepid young envoy made his way from Williamsburg almost to the shores of Lake Erie. |
3. attrib.
| a 1711 Ken Christophil Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 487 An Envoy-Star, whose Ray Shou'd shew the world where Jesus lay. |
▪ III. † ˈenvoy, v. Obs.
[ad. Fr. envoy-er to send.]
a. To send. b. To write as an ‘envoy’ or concluding stanza.
| 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. v. 24 A new lignage was enioyed [? read enuoyed] from heuen on hygh. 1508 Barclay Shyp Folys (1874) II. 230 Alas what may I vnto you nowe enuoy. |