MISSIVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Missive

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/mˈɪsɪv/ Listen

noun

Missive n.

That which is sent; a writing containing a message.

One who is sent; a messenger. (Obs.)

adjective

Missive adj.

Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent; as, a letter missive.

Missile. "The missive weapons fly."

Letters missive, letters conveying the permission, comand, or advice of a superior authority, as a sovereign. They are addressed and sent to some certain person or persons, and are distinguished from letters patent, which are addressed to the public.

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Etymology of 'Missive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Missive" Quotes from Famous Books

... Carling was a very nice boy, but not at that time in his career the safest person to whom to intrust a missive in case its sure and speedy delivery were a matter of importance. But he protested with so much earnestness and good will that it should be put into the very first post-box he came to on his way to school, and that nothing could induce him to forget it, that Mary ...

— David Harum - A Story of American Life • Edward Noyes Westcott

... of a letter into Master Ripton's hands, furnished her with other and likelier appearances to study. For scarce had Ripton plunged his head into the missive than he gave way to violent transports, such as the healthy-minded little damsel, for all her languishing cadences, deemed she really could express were a downright declaration to be made to her. The boy did not stop at table. ...

— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... for Confirmation, should have been immersed in graver things, but were not. They waited on mental tiptoe for details, and a peep at the delicious document. The Blue Class, as became mere infants ranging from six to ten years old, remained phlegmatically indifferent to the missive, yet avid for samples of the chocolates that had accompanied the declaration, made to eighty girls of all ages by one undersized, pasty, freckled young man employed as junior clerk and chain-assistant in a surveyor's office, and who signed at the end ...

— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves

... by the sight of this missive, examined it with as much care as if he expected to extract more information from it than in reality the writer possessed, but he was obliged to content himself with copying the address and giving the warmest thanks to Mrs. Bellairs for the ...

— A Canadian Heroine - A Novel, Volume 3 (of 3) • Mrs. Harry Coghill

... native brought a letter from the errant lady addressed to her furious spouse. This missive is (without explaining how he got it) reproduced by an American journalist, T. Everett Harre, in a series of articles, The Heavenly Sinner: "I suggest," runs an extract, "you come to your senses and give me my freedom ... I am going with a man of parts who ...

— The Magnificent Montez - From Courtesan to Convert • Horace Wyndham

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