Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HER'ALD, n. [Fr. heraut, for herault; Arm. herald or harod; Sp. heraldo; Port. arauto; It. araldo; G. herold; W. herodyr, embassador and herald, from herawd, a defiance or challenge, heriaw, to brandish, to threaten, from hèr, a push, a motion of defiance, a challenge. The primary sense is to send, thrust, or drive.]

1. An officer whose business was to denounce or proclaim war, to challenge to battle, to proclaim peace, and to bear messages from the commander of an army. Hence,
2. A proclaimer; a publisher; as, the herald of another's fame.
3. A forerunner; a precursor; a harbinger. It was the lark, the herald of the morn. Shak.
4. An officer in Great Britain, whose business is to marshal, order and conduct royal cavalcades, ceremonies at coronations, royal marriages, installations, creations of dukes and other nobles, embassies, funeral processions, declarations of war, proclamatione of peace, &c.; also, to record and blazon the arms of the nobility and gentry, and to regulate abuses therein. Encyc.
5. Formerly applied by the French to a minstrel.