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herald sb. (in old edd. also “herauld, -ault, har(r)old”)
1. officer having the duty of (i) making proclamations 2H6 IV. ii. 190, (ii) bearing messages between princes and hostile forces John. II. i. 325, H5 III. v. 36, Troil. I. iii. 218, (iii) conveying challenges H8 I. i. 34, Lr. V. i. 48, (iv) arranging public processions, funerals, &c. 1H6 I. i. 45, Cor. V. v. [vi.] 145 “the most noble corse that ever Did follow to his urn,” (v) regulating the use of armorial bearings Shr. II. i. 223 “A , Kate? O! put me in thy books,” Lucr. 206 “Some loathsome dash the herald will contrive.”
2. messenger, envoy LLL. V. ii. 97 “Their herald is a pretty knavish page,” R3 I. i. 72, Ham. III. iv. 58 “the herald Mercury.”
3. fore-runner, precursor Ado II. i. 319 “Silence is the perfectest of joy,” Rom III. v. 6 “the lark, the of the morn,” Cæs. I. iii. 56, Ven. 531 “The owl, night's herald,” Sonn. i. 10.
4. attrib. use of 1 (ii) Gent III. i. 144 “My thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; While I, their king” . . .
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hide References (11 total)
  • Cross-references in text-specific dictionaries from this page (11):
    • William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, 5.5
    • William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, 5.6
    • William Shakespeare, King Lear, 5.1
    • William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 3.4
    • William Shakespeare, Henry V, 3.5
    • William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry VI, 1.1
    • William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry VI, 2.1
    • William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry VI, 4.2
    • William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, ven
    • William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece
    • William Shakespeare, Sonnets, i
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