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Alternative formsEdit


From Middle English erande, erende, from Old English ǣrende (errand, message; mission; embassy; answer, news, tidings, business, care), from Proto-Germanic *airundiją (message, errand), from Proto-Germanic *airuz (messenger, servant), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ey- (to go). Cognate with German dialectal Erend, Ernd (order, contract, task, errand), Danish ærinde (errand), Swedish ärende (errand), Norwegian ærend (errand), Icelandic eyrindi, erindi (errand).



errand (plural errands)

  1. A journey undertaken to accomplish some task.
    1. (literary or archaic) A mission or quest.
      • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur
        What will ye, said King Arthur, and what is your errand?
      • 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
    2. A mundane mission of no great consequence, concerning household or business affairs (dropping items by, doing paperwork, going to a friend's house, etc.)
      The errands before he could start the project included getting material at the store and getting the tools he had lent his neighbors.
      I'm going to town on some errands.
  2. The purpose of such a journey.
  3. An oral message trusted to a person for delivery.
    • John Donne
      I had not taught thee then the alphabet
      Of flowers, how they, devicefully being set
      And bound up, might with speechless secrecy
      Deliver errands mutely and mutually.

Derived termsEdit



errand (third-person singular simple present errands, present participle erranding, simple past and past participle erranded)

  1. (transitive) To send someone on an errand.
    All the servants were on holiday or erranded out of the house.
  2. (intransitive) To go on an errand.
    She spent an enjoyable afternoon erranding in the city.