harbinger
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L321696 on Wikidata ↗verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L331888 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/ / /ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/
noun
Etymology: Originally, a person sent in advance to arrange lodgings. From Middle English herberjour, herbergeour, from Old French herbergeor (French hébergeur), from herbergier (“to set up camp; to shelter; to take shelter”) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns), from Old High German heribergan, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army camp, shelter”). Compare German Herberge, Italian albergo, Dutch herberg, English harbor. More at here, borrow.
- A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.
“harbinger of danger; harbinger of doom; harbinger of spring”
“Make all our Trumpets ſpeak, giue thẽ all breath / Thoſe clamorous Harbingers of Blood, & Death”
- One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when travelling, to provide and prepare lodgings.
“outward decency […] is the Harbinger to provide the lodging for inward holinesse”
verb
Etymology: Originally, a person sent in advance to arrange lodgings. From Middle English herberjour, herbergeour, from Old French herbergeor (French hébergeur), from herbergier (“to set up camp; to shelter; to take shelter”) + -or (suffix forming agent nouns), from Old High German heribergan, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *harjabergu (“army camp, shelter”). Compare German Herberge, Italian albergo, Dutch herberg, English harbor. More at here, borrow.
- To announce or precede; to be a harbinger of.
“It was harbingered also by the terrible comet of January, which appeared in a cadent and obscure house, denoting sickness and death; […]”