Also -onn-. [a. mod. F. commissionnaire COMMISSIONER, in some of the French applications of the title.]
ǁ 1. One entrusted with small commissions; a messenger or light porter; the designation of various subordinate employés in public offices, private businesses, hotels, etc., on the Continent.
1765. H. Walpole, Corr. (1837), III. 319. Besides being the best friend in the world you are the best commissionnaire in the world.
1835. Marryat, Olla Podr., iv. I was confoundedly taken in by a rascal of a commissionnaire.
1872. Dasent, Three to One, II. x. 171. Of course you would have sent off a messenger, a running footman, a commissionnaire, to do your bidding.
2. spec. A member of the Corps of Commissionaires, an association of pensioned soldiers, originally established in London in 1859, organized for employment as messengers, porters, time-keepers etc. [Littré has ‘Homme qui stationne au coin de la rue, attendant les commissions du public.’]
1869. Daily News, 16 Dec. [A person] described as a messenger, was … charged with fraudulently imitating the dress of a commissionaire.
