errand — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A journey undertaken to accomplish some task. A mission or quest.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • Literary

   Synonyms

   run

   Examples

   What will ye, said King Arthur, and what is your errand?

   More examples (1)

   Few have ever come hither through greater peril or on an errand more urgent. In this evil hour I have come on an errand over many dangerous leagues to Elrond: a hundred and ten days I have journeyed all alone.

2. A journey undertaken to accomplish some task. A mundane mission of no great consequence, concerning household or business affairs (dropping items by, doing paperwork, going to a friend's house, etc.)

   Synonyms

   run

   Examples

   The errands before he could start the project included getting material at the store and getting the tools he had lent his neighbors.

   I'm going to town on some errands.

3. The purpose of such a journey.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.

4. An oral message trusted to a person for delivery.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   I had not taught thee then the alphabet Of flowers, how they, devicefully being set And bound up, might with speechless secrecy Deliver errands mutely and mutually.

Verb

1. To send someone on an errand.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   All the servants were on holiday or erranded out of the house.

2. To go on an errand.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   She spent an enjoyable afternoon erranding in the city.

Noun

1. a short trip that is taken in the performance of a necessary task or mission

   Broader terms

   trip