dispatch

verb

/dɪˈspætʃ/UK/dəˈspæt͡ʃ/US

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish despachar or Italian dispacciare, replacing alternate reflex depeach, which is from French dépêcher. Omitting several steps, from Latin dis- + impedicō (whence impeach). The first known use in writing (in the past tense, spelled as dispached) is by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall in 1517. This would be unusually early for a borrowing from a Romance language other than French, but Tunstall had studied in Italy and was Commissioner to Spain, so this word may have been borrowed through diplomatic circles. The alternative spelling despatch was introduced in Samuel Johnson's dictionary, probably by accident. Compare typologically deliver (for the meaning to bring or transport) (< Latin dē- + līberō).

borrowed from dispacciare
borrowed from despachar

Definitions

To send (a shipment) with promptness.
To send (a person) away hastily.
To send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military…
To send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military officer.
›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer
1. 4
  To send (a journalist) to a place in order to report.
  - Scores of foreign journalists have been dispatched to Seoul to report on the growing tensions between the two Koreas and the possibility of war.
2. 5
  To dispose of speedily, as business
  To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform.
  - Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we / The business we have talk'd of.
  - the which company of harvest men, being ready at the day appointed, almost in one fair day dispatcheth all the harvest work.
3. To eat, especially quickly.
4. 7
  To rid
  To rid; to free.
  - But whā I had cleane diſpatched myſelf of this great charge and taſke, I loked not that I ſhould at any tyme afterwarde have any more to doe with this kynde of writing
5. 8
  To destroy (someone or something) quickly and efficiently.
  - "And our dogs used to tree the cats on our property here, and we'd dispatch them."
6. 9
  To defeat
  - Gareth Southgate's side had little trouble dispatching the side 172nd in the Fifa rankings.
7. 10
  To pass on for further processing, especially via a dispatch table (often with to).
  - These handlers perform any additional checking and processing that may be necessary before and after a message is dispatched to an object. In addition, some message types are handled internally by the kernel[…]
8. 11
  To hurry.
  - prithee, dispatch
  - “Proceed, friend Nicolas, and let us dispatch; for, it grows late.”
9. To deprive.
10. A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an important…
  A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an important official message sent by a diplomat, government official, military officer, etc.
11. 14
  The act of doing something quickly.
  - We must act with dispatch in this matter.
  - A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.
12. A mission by an emergency response service, typically involving attending to an emergency…
  A mission by an emergency response service, typically involving attending to an emergency in the field.
13. The passing on of a message for further processing, especially through a dispatch table.
14. A dismissal.

The neighborhood

synonymmake haste
synonymsend
neighborimpeach
neighborimpede
neighbordouble dispatch
neighbormultiple dispatch
neighborredispatch
neighborsingle dispatch
neighborwith dispatch

Derived

dispatchability, dispatchable, dispatchee, dispatcher, undispatch, undispatched, dispatch box, dispatch case, dispatchful, dispatch money, dispatch rider, dispatch table, dynamic dispatch, emergency dispatch center, happy dispatch, multidispatch, static dispatch, with dispatch

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at dispatch. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at dispatch. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at dispatch

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA