harbinger

noun
/ˈhɑːbɪndʒə/UK/ˈhɑɹ.bɪn.d͡ʒəɹ/US

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.

  1. inherited from *harjabergu
  2. derived from heribergan
  3. derived from herbergeor
  4. inherited from herberjour

Definitions

  1. 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
    • I knew by these harbingers who were coming.
  2. One who provides lodgings

    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
  3. To announce or precede

    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; […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at harbinger. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01harbinger02foretells03foretell04prophesy05foreshow06prefigure

A definitional loop anchored at harbinger. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

6 hops · closes at harbinger

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA