Definition of "legate"

legate

/ˈlɛɡɪt/

noun
plural legates
1. A deputy representing the pope, specifically a papal ambassador sent on special ecclesiastical missions.
2. An ambassador or messenger.
  Quotations
  Moſt great and puiſant Monarke of the earth,Your Baſſoe wil accompliſh your beheſt:And ſhew your pleaſure to the Perſean,As fits the Legate of the ſtately Turke.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act III, scene i
  The dark figure on the raised white terrace; legate of the sun facing the sun; the most ancient royal power.
  1965, John Fowles, The Magus
3. The deputy of a provincial governor or general in ancient Rome.
  Quotations
  Legate, I had the news last night—my cohort ordered homeBy ships to Portus Itius and thence by road to Rome.
  1911, Rudyard Kipling, “The Roman Centurion’s Song”, in The History of England
verb
third-person singular simple present legates, present participle legating, simple past and past participle legated
1. (transitive) To leave as a legacy.