express

adj

1. (not-comparable)Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.
2. (comparable)Specific or precise; directly and distinctly stated; not merely implied.

   “I gave him express instructions not to begin until I arrived, but he ignored me.”

   “This book cannot be copied without the express permission of the publisher.”

   “Beginning with the next issue, which will be the January, 1950, issue, this magazine will be published on the first of every month. This step has been taken at the express wish of readers despite the present paper and production difficulties.”

3. Truly depicted; exactly resembling.

   “In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance.”

   “Soon as the potion works, their human countenance, / The express resemblance of the gods, is changed / Into some brutish form, of wolf, or bear, / Or ounce, or tiger, hog, or bearded goat, / All other parts remaining as they were[…]”

4. (postpositional)Providing a more limited but presumably faster service than a full or complete dealer of the same kind or type.

   “Tesco Express”

   “McDonald's Express”

noun

1. A mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly, either on a regular schedule or as a special or excursion. Express trains often pass through stations along the way without stopping at them.

   “I took the express into town.”

   “Your attention please. Train 4715 is now boarding on track 3, section B. This train is an express. This train does not stop at Foo, Bar, or Fubar stations.”

   “The train was moving less fast through the summer night. The swift express had changed into something almost a parliamentary, had stopped three times since Norwich, and now, at long last, was approaching Banton.”

   “Except for the mid-winter period, when the 11.30 a.m. from Paddington and its opposite number will be withdrawn - Torquay now has seven daily expresses to and from Paddington as compared with five down and six up previously.”

   “This is also a TransPennine Express service which makes a mockery of the word 'express'.”

2. (Philippines)A mode of transportation, often a train, that travels quickly or directly, either on a regular schedule or as a special or excursion. Express trains often pass through stations along the way without stopping at them.
3. A service that allows mail or money to be sent rapidly from one destination to another.
4. An express rifle.

   “"Give me my express," I said, laying down the Winchester, and he handed it to me cocked.”

5. (obsolete)A clear image or representation; an expression; a plain declaration.

   “And this [holy communion] being the great myſtery of Chriſtianity, and the onely remanent expreſſe of Chriſts ſacrifice on earth, it is moſt conſonant to the Analogy of the myſtery, that this commemorative ſacrifice be preſented by perſons as ſeparate, and diſtinct in our miniſtery, […]”

6. A messenger sent on a special errand; a courier.

   “I learned, to my inexpressible terror, that at two o'clock, the day before, an express had been sent to Geraldine by Mr Bergasse, with a letter, which he had received from the Hotel de Romagnecourt.”

7. An express office.

   “She charged him […] to ask at the express if anything came up from town.”

8. That which is sent by an express messenger or message.

   “popular captations, which some men use in their Speeches, and Expresses”

   ““5th, If an express requires extraordinary despatch, the man-mountain shall be obliged to carry, in his pocket, the messenger and horse a six days journey, once in every moon, and return the said messenger back (if so required) safe to our imperial presence.”

   “So much was Sir Edward delighted that he sent an express to inform Lord Meersbrook of this great act of friendship, in order that he might be the more easy on their account;...”

9. (obsolete)The action of conveying some idea using words or actions; communication, expression.

   “Whereby they discoursed in silence, and were intuitively understood from the theory of their expresses.”

10. (obsolete)A specific statement or instruction.

    “This Gentleman [...] caused a man to go down no less than a hundred fathom, with express to take notice whether it were hard or soft in the place where it groweth.”

adv

1. Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops.

   “The train runs express to 96 St.”

verb

1. (transitive)To convey or communicate; to make known or explicit.

   “Words cannot express the love I feel for him.”

   “We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith. As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.”

   “Services during Yom Kippur are held continuously through the day and include readings from the Torah and the reciting of prayers expressing regret or asking for forgiveness.”

2. (transitive)To press, squeeze out (especially said of milk).

   “The people of his island of Rokovoko, it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water of young cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl […]”

   “It contained many cysts which were filled with sagolike granules that could be expressed under pressure.”

   “They don’t have teats, so the mothers express their milk onto their bellies for their young to feed.”

3. To translate messenger RNA into protein.
4. To transcribe deoxyribonucleic acid into messenger RNA.

   “When a cell “expresses” a gene, it translates the DNA first into a signature messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence and subsequently into a chain of amino acids that forms a protein.”