courier, n. 1. One who carries messages or goods, especially with urgency or ceremony. 2. A child between the ages of one and four who transports eyeglasses, rings, or single shoes across a room with the solemnity of a diplomatic attaché. 3. The space between couch and father, measured not in meters but in the number of times the object is almost dropped. 4. (Archaic) The first act of the new year; the delivering of fragile things by unsteady hands. 5. (Fig.) Any passage between what was and what will be, performed barefoot, on cloud-covered midsummer mornings, at approximately 15.88 degrees.