Search the Dictionary

A written or printed communication; a message expressed in intelligible characters on something adapted to conveyance, as paper, parchment, etc.; an epistle. The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural. Walsh.

the same government, but by all the facilities of commodious intercourse, and of frequent communication. Eustace.

A passage or hall of communication, especially when large enough to serve also as a waiting room. It differs from an antechamber in that a lobby communicates between several rooms, an antechamber to one only; but this distinction is not carefully preserved.

A communication of news; an announcement. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Any notice, word, or communication, written or verbal, sent from one person to another. Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. Judg. iii. 20.

One who bears a message; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice, or invitation, from one person to another, or to a public body; specifically, an office servant who bears messages.

form the duties of a navigator; to use the waters as a highway or channel for commerce or communication; to sail. The Phenicians navigated to the extremities of the Western Ocean. Arbuthnot.

The art of revealing future events by means of a pretended communication with the dead; the black art; hence, magic in general; conjuration; enchantment. See Black art. This palace standeth in the air, By necromancy placèd there. Drayton.

a treaty, league, or convention; to treat with, respecting peace or commerce; to conduct communications or conferences. He that negotiates between God and man Is God's ambassador. Cowper.

rom that point; as, a northeast course; a northeast wind. Northeast passage, a passage or communication by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the north coast of Asia.

Coming from the northwest; as, a northwest wind. Northwest passage, a passage or communication by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the north coast of America, long sought for by navigators.

A diplomatic missive or written communication.

ant, U.S.] -- Omnibus box, a large box in a theater, on a level with the stage and having communication with it. [Eng.] Thackeray.

structures or objects; as, open houses, boxes, baskets, bottles, etc.; also, to means of communication or approach by water or land; as, an open harbor or roadstead. Through the gate, Wide open and unquarded, Satan passed. Milton

The communications, revelations, or messages delivered by God to the prophets; also, the entire sacred Scriptures -- usually in the plural. The first principles of the oracles of God. Heb. v. 12.

A medium of communication between one person or body and another; as, the secretary of state is the organ of communication between the government and a foreign power; a newspaper is the organ of its editor, or of a party, sect, etc.

r. Revelation denies it by the stern reserve, the paucity, and the incompleteness, of its communications. I. Taylor.

Done in person; without the intervention of another. "Personal communication." Fabyan. The immediate and personal speaking of God. White.

inary and grotesque dialect, employed in the commercial cities of China, as the medium of communication between foreign merchants and the Chinese. Its base is English, with a mixture of Portuguese and Hindoostanee. Johnson's Cyc. -- Pigeon grass (Bot.), a kind of foxtail grass (Setaria glauca), of some value as fodder…

set [benignity]. Chaucer. Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering. Stewart.