| 释义 |
▪ 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.
c1398Chaucer (title), Th' enuoye of Fortune. 1485Caxton Chas. Gt. 250 Thenuoye of thauctour. 1508Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) ii. 230 Thenuoy. 1576Turberv. (title), Tragical Tales..with the Argument and L'Envoye to ech Tale. 1611Cotgr., Envoy..th' Enuoy, or conclusion of a Ballet, or Sonnet. 1640B. Jonson Underwoods, Misc. Poems lx, Another answers, 'las! those silks are none, In smiling l'envoy. 1823Sismondi's Lit. Eur. (1846) I. vi. 173 The songs are usually in seven stanzas, followed by an envoy, which he calls a tornada. 1823New Monthly Mag. VII. 194 The last chapter..the moral and envoy of the whole. 1880Hueffer 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.
1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. v. i, I have given the bride her instructions to breake in upon him in the l'envoy. 1636Massinger 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.
1795Southey 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. 1872in 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.
[1660Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 359 The Envoyée of the king of Poland. 1664Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 172 He hathe taken care to supply it in the meantime by his Extraordinary Envoyè. 1691Rycaut in Gentl. Mag. May (1786) 396/1 To treat the Turkish envoyées so ill, as, etc.] 1666Pepys Diary 11 July, A galliott..that is going to carry the Savoy Envoye [? meant for envoyé] over. 1667Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 31 To the audience of a Russian Envoy in the Queen's presence-chamber. 1710in Lond. Gaz. No. 4688/1 The Earl of Stair, her Britannick Majesty's Envoy-Extraordinary to King Augustus. 1716Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. vi. 18 Madame..the wife of our king's envoy from Hanover. 1779J. Moore View Soc. Fr. II. 175, I have been introduced to all of them by Mr. Harris, his Majesty's envoy extraordinary. 1803Med. Jrnl. IX. 453 A correspondence which I have begun, by means of the British Envoy. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 3 Sir Edward Stafford, English envoy in Paris. 1875H. 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.
[1643Denham Dido Poems (1668) 134 Jove's Envoyé through the Air Brings dismal tydings.] 1696Tate & Brady Ps. cvi. 16 God's Envoy Moses they oppose. 1712Blackmore Creation vi. 678 Where [sc. in the brain] their Report the Vital Envoys make. 1820Irving Sketch Bk. I. 99 Men..have been envoys from England to ransack the poles. 1859Thackeray Virgin. vi. 48 The intrepid young envoy made his way from Williamsburg almost to the shores of Lake Erie.
3. attrib.
a1711Ken 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.
1481Caxton Myrr. i. v. 24 A new lignage was enioyed [? read enuoyed] from heuen on hygh. 1508Barclay Shyp Folys (1874) II. 230 Alas what may I vnto you nowe enuoy. |