Messenger

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MESSENGER. A person appointed to perform certain duties, generally of a ministerial character.
2. In England, a messenger appointed under the bankrupt laws, is an officer who is authorized to execute the lawful commands of commissioners of bankrupts.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.

References in periodicals archive ?

Don't kill the messenger. The head of Lebanon's restaurant owners association said Tuesday that LBCI television was guilty of besmirching the reputation of his sector, amid widespread reports that the country suffers from less-than-adequate food safety standards.

Dangerous food?

And, Rasch asks, if a messenger comes into contact with this community, is the threat so great as to tempt us, in order to save the community, to kill the messenger? 'If so, what kind of killing would this be?

Matthew Calarco and Steven DeCaroli, eds. Giorgio Agamben: Sovereignty and Life

Then he proceeded to kill the messenger: "Someday I'm going to murder the bugler.

Kill the bugler!

Your letter writers are attempting to kill the messenger. Please send me a stack of these posters so I can post them all over town!

Que serra serra

When was the last time we heard something--in a sermon or a reading, in a prayer or a hymn--that so outraged us that we wanted to kill the messenger? Why is it that so many Christians today are never disturbed or upset at worship (except, of course, when the acolyte does acrobatics, the soloist strikes a sour note, the liturgy runs long, or the kids are cranky and crying)?

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany February 1, 2004

Kill the messenger (historically cited as a poor choice), or adopt desperate measures.

Killer app turns homicidal. (Tech Forum)

Rather than kill the messenger, senior management needs to heed the message that some companies are Petri dishes that breed people who can kiss backsides better than they can perform their duties.

The buzz. (Kobe's Beef)

But the mosquitoes carry many germs, and this is one of those cases where it pays big dividends to kill the messenger.

End of the world scenario: every few years, TIE's favorite disasterologist lays out his latest forecast of doom. Today's message: forget Osama bin Laden. Mother Nature is the big time threat

Thus another case of trying to kill the messenger had backfired.

Fighting back

If recipients didn't like it, they'd kill the messenger. We, in the media, are descendants of those messengers and now many viewers and readers want to kill us.

Viewer dissatisfaction understates the anger at local TV news: a journalist reports on audience concerns, but is anyone else paying attention? (When Journalists Arrive ...)

I'm already a veteran of this national pastime called "kill the messenger." I get to play practically every week; after awhile you get used to it and come to understand that it means you are doing something right.

Kill the Messenger

The best response from black communities is not to kill the messenger but to mount a vigorous attack in the robust glare of publicity on the message.