2 entries under this word
n. A minister of the highest rank employed by a government to represent it and manage its interests at the court or seat of government of some other power.
☞ This is the more common orthography; but good authors write also embassador; and as the orthography of embassy is established, it would be better to write embassador, as it is written by Blackstone. See EMBASSADOR.
n. [Fr. embassadeur, ambassadeur, It. ambasciadore, Sp. & Pg. embaxador, Norm. Fr. ambaxeur, L. Lat. ambassiator, ambasciator, ambaxiator; Goth. and-bahts, servant, messenger, Lat. ambactus, vassal, a dependent upon a lord, among the Gauls. [See infra, and cf. AMBASSADOR.] One who is authorized to represent or act for another in the fullest manner possible; especially, a minister of the highest rank sent by one sovereign to another, as the personal representative of the appointing power, and intrusted with the management of public matters between the two sovereigns.
Ambassadors are called ordinary when they reside permanently at a foreign court, and extraordinary when they are sent on a special occasion.