Envoy (?), n. [F. envoyé envoy, fr. envoyer to send; pref. en- (L. in) + voie way, L. via: cf. F. envoi an envoy (in sense 2). See Voyage, and cf. Invoice.] 1. One dispatched upon an errand or mission; a messenger; esp., a person deputed by a sovereign or a government to negotiate a treaty, or transact other business, with a foreign sovereign or government; a minister accredited to a foreign government. An envoy's rank is below that of an ambassador.
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2. [F. envoi, fr. envoyer to send.] An explanatory or commendatory postscript to a poem, essay, or book; -- also in the French from, l'envoi.
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The envoy of a ballad is the “sending” of it forth. Skeat.
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