EMISSARY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Emissary

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/ˈɛməsˌɛri/ Listen

noun

Emissary n. (pl. emissaries) An agent employed to advance, in a covert manner, the interests of his employers; one sent out by any power that is at war with another, to create dissatisfaction among the people of the latter. "Buzzing emissaries fill the ears Of listening crowds with jealousies and fears."

Synonyms: Emissary, Spy. A spy is one who enters an enemy's camp or territories to learn the condition of the enemy; an emissary may be a secret agent appointed not only to detect the schemes of an opposing party, but to influence their councils. A spy must be concealed, or he suffers death; an emissary may in some cases be known as the agent of an adversary without incurring similar hazard.

adjective

Emissary adj.

Exploring; spying.

(Anat.) Applied to the veins which pass out of the cranium through apertures in its walls.

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Etymology of 'Emissary'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Emissary" Quotes from Famous Books

... making the service of all such writs treason against their authority—"it having been ever customary in their land to receive and entertain strangers with due respect and hospitality." Under this law, an emissary of the Earl of Ormond, upon whom English writs against the fugitives were found, was executed as a traitor. This independent Parliament confirmed the Duke in his office; made it high treason to imagine his death, and—taking advantage of the favourable conjuncture ...

— A Popular History of Ireland - From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics • Thomas D'Arcy McGee

... to death. Boxall thereupon spoke very earnestly to him, as he had done to us, and urged him to adhere to his resolution. "It is far better to die than to live a hypocrite, or to acknowledge that Mohammed was a true prophet of God, when we know that he was an emissary of Satan sent to ...

— Saved from the Sea - The Loss of the Viper, and her Crew's Saharan Adventures • W.H.G. Kingston

... the cardinal, who was very quick-tempered, wished to keep them in leading strings, but one of them started to Rome with their complaints, sent by his comrades. Cisneros, being governor of the kingdom, placed guards at all the ports, and the emissary was arrested as he was going to embark at Valencia. The end of it all was that after a long suit the gentlemen of the Chapter came off victorious, and lived out of the Primacy, and the Claverias remained unfinished with this low roof and this balustrade, ...

— The Shadow of the Cathedral • Vicente Blasco Ibanez

... bomb, whether done by a secret emissary, or by a sympathizer with labor, proved the lever which the propertied classes had been feverishly awaiting. Spies, Fielding and their comrades were at once cast into jail; the newspapers invented wild yarns of conspiracies ...

— Great Fortunes from Railroads • Gustavus Myers

... blest spirit! For since thou slew'st the usurper's emissary That plunged upon us, a more than mortal fear Is as a wall, that wards off the beleaguerer 85 And starves the poor besieged. ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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