Crossword clues for missive
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Missive \Mis"sive\, a. [See Missive, n.]
Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent; as, a letter missive.
--Ayliffe.-
Missile. ``The missive weapons fly.''
--Dryden.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.
Missive \Mis"sive\, n. [F. lettre missive. See Mission, n.]
That which is sent; a writing containing a message.
One who is sent; a messenger. [Obs.]
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., "commandment," noun use of adjective (mid-15c.) meaning "sent by superior authority," from Medieval Latin missivus "for sending, sent," especially in littera missiva "letters sent," from Latin missus, past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission).
Wiktionary
a. 1 Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent. 2 missile n. 1 (context formal English) A written message; a letter, note or memo. 2 (context obsolete English) One who is sent; a messenger.
WordNet
n. a written message addressed to a person or organization; "mailed an indignant letter to the editor" [syn: letter]
Usage examples of "missive".
Only a few short weeks ago, Sebastian had received a missive all the way from England from a man he had known a long time before he had ever came into the Cordele home.
His most trusted valet and the housemaid were yet again in a squabble as to who would deliver the recently received missive to the library.
It always happened like this when he received a missive from his adoptive father, Henry Cordele.
She gave Bentley a smirk as she stepped past him, handed the missive to Sebastian, then, with head held high, glided out of the entry hall, into a side room and soundly shut the huge oak door behind her.
Placing the missive on his desk and shrugging off his fawn colored riding jacket, he tossed it on the back of his brown leather desk chair, Sebastian poured himself a goblet of rum and sat down to open the letter from Henry.
Stunned, he viewed briefly over the missive from Henry once more, still not believing that, after all this time, he would see them again.
After he read the last missive, which was a formal invitation to her birthday party being held by a Miss Lily Henthorne, he decided to stop by her home later today and see if she was available to spend some time with him.
I persuaded a very terrified messenger to release the missive to me or else I would serve his head on a platter to my hounds.
The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the messenger was to deliver the missive to the docks and put it in a wooden box on the side of a building that has been deserted for years.
Wiping the tears from her face angrily, she sat down at her desk and wrote a short missive to Travana begging off, at least for the next couple of days, from her fittings.
When her water arrived, she sent the notes with the smallest boy and asked him to make sure the missive for Dex was delivered with haste, as he was leaving this evening on a trip.
Confederacy, Suzanna LeGrande hesitated a moment before placing this particular missive under the rock.
Had the detective followed orders issued by Pinkerton, he could have retrieved the missive, captured its author and thwarted the bloody Rapidan River ambush.
Eadyth had exercised great care in sending her missive by way of a passing traveler, but he had been even more cautious of every stranger approaching or leaving Ravenshire since Steven had planted the letter within his keep.
Eirik had referred to in his missive was his precious little daughter.