Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person, such as a herald, sent in advance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An old form of van-courier.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete See van-courier.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Obsolete form of van-courier.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for obsolete French avaunt-courier : Old French avaunt, in front; see vanguard + Old French courrier, messenger; see courier.]

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Examples

  • Too quickly has vanished the brief season when the sky is clement, when a little food suffices, and the chances of earning that little are more numerous than at other times; this wind that gives utterance to its familiar warning is the vaunt-courier of cold and hunger and solicitude that knows not sleep.

    The Nether World George Gissing 1880

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