\Her"ald\, n. [OE. herald, heraud, OF. heralt, heraut,
herault, F. h['e]raut, LL. heraldus, haraldus, fr. (assumed)
OHG. heriwalto, hariwaldo, a (civil) officer who serves the
army; hari, heri, army + waltan to manage, govern, G. walten;
akin to E. wield. See {Harry}, {Wield}.]
1. (Antiq.) An officer whose business was to denounce or
   proclaim war, to challenge to battle, to proclaim peace,
   and to bear messages from the commander of an army. He was
   invested with a sacred and inviolable character.
2. In the Middle Ages, the officer charged with the above
   duties, and also with the care of genealogies, of the
   rights and privileges of noble families, and especially of
   armorial bearings. In modern times, some vestiges of this
   office remain, especially in England. See {Heralds'
   College} (below), and {King-at-Arms}.
3. A proclaimer; one who, or that which, publishes or
   announces; as, the herald of another's fame. --Shak.
4. A forerunner; a a precursor; a harbinger.
         It was the lark, the herald of the morn. --Shak.
5. Any messenger. ``My herald is returned.'' --Shak.
{Heralds' College}, in England, an ancient corporation,
   dependent upon the crown, instituted or perhaps recognized
   by Richard III. in 1483, consisting of the three
   Kings-at-Arms and the Chester, Lancaster, Richmond,
   Somerset, Windsor, and York Heralds, together with the
   Earl Marshal. This retains from the Middle Ages the charge
   of the armorial bearings of persons privileged to bear
   them, as well as of genealogies and kindred subjects; --
   called also {College of Arms}.

\Her"ald\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Heralded}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Heralding}.] [Cf. OF. herauder, heraulder.]
To introduce, or give tidings of, as by a herald; to
proclaim; to announce; to foretell; to usher in. --Shak.