express

Forms

1.Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.
2.Specific or precise; directly and distinctly stated; not merely implied.
- This book cannot be copied without the express permission of the publisher.
- I gave him express instructions not to begin until I arrived, but he ignored me.
3.Truly depicted; exactly resembling.
- In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance.
4.Providing a more limited but presumably faster service than a full or complete dealer of the same kind or type.

1.A service that allows mail or money to be sent rapidly from one destination to another.
2.A messenger sent on a special errand; a courier.
- I learned, to my inexpressible terror, that at two o'clock, the day before, an express had been sent to Geraldine by Mr Bergasse, with a letter, which he had received from the Hotel de Romagnecourt.
3.A mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly, either on a regular schedule or as a special or excursion. Express trains often pass through stations along the way without stopping at them.
- This is also a TransPennine Express service which makes a mockery of the word 'express'.
- I took the express into town.
- Your attention please. Train 4715 is now boarding on track 3, section B. This train is an express. This train does not stop at Foo, Bar, or Fubar stations.
4.An express rifle.
- "Give me my express," I said, laying down the Winchester, and he handed it to me cocked.

Common· #1303

From French exprès

From Latin expressus, past participle of exprimere (see Etymology 2, below).