Message

[mes-ij] /ˈmɛs ɪdʒ/

noun
1.
a communication containing some information, news, advice, request, or the like, sent by messenger, telephone, email, or other means.
2.
an official communication, as from a chief executive to a legislative body:
the president’s message to Congress.
3.
Digital Technology. a post or reply on an online message board.
4.
the inspired utterance of a prophet or sage.
5.
the point, moral, or meaning of a gesture, utterance, novel, motion picture, etc.
6.
Computers. a warning, permission, etc., communicated by the system or software to the user:
an error message; a message to allow blocked content.
verb (used without object)
7.
to send a message, especially an electronic message.
verb (used with object)
8.
to send (a person) a message.
9.
to send as a message.
Idioms
10.
get the message, Informal. to understand or comprehend, especially to infer the correct meaning from circumstances, hints, etc.:
If we don’t invite him to the party, maybe he’ll get the message.
/ˈmɛsɪdʒ/
noun
1.
a communication, usually brief, from one person or group to another
2.
an implicit meaning or moral, as in a work of art
3.
a formal communiqué
4.
an inspired communication of a prophet or religious leader
5.
a mission; errand
6.
(pl) (Scot) shopping: going for the messages
7.
(informal) get the message, to understand what is meant
verb
8.
(transitive) to send as a message, esp to signal (a plan, etc)
n.

c.1300, “communication transmitted via a messenger,” from Old French message “message, news, tidings, embassy” (11c.), from Medieval Latin missaticum, from Latin missus “a sending away, sending, despatching; a throwing, hurling,” noun use of past participle of mittere “to send” (see mission). The Latin word is glossed in Old English by ærende. Specific religious sense of “divinely inspired communication via a prophet” (1540s) led to transferred sense of “the broad meaning (of something),” first attested 1828. To get the message “understand” is from 1960.
v.

“to send messages,” 1580s, from message (n.). Related: Messaged; messaging.

verb

To send a message on the Internet •The sense ”to send a message” is found by 1583: ” I need to do it,” Baker messaged a man with whom he had been discussing rape, torture, and murder (1990s+ Computer)

In object-oriented programming sending a message to an object (to invoke a method) is equivalent to calling a procedure in traditional programming languages, except that the actual code executed may only be selected at run time depending on the class of the object. Thus, in response to the message “drawSelf”, the method code invoked would be different if the target object were a circle or a square.
(1995-02-16)
see: get the message