- despatch
- Dispatch Dis*patch" (?; 224), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Dispatched}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Dispatching}.] [OF.
despeechier, F. d['e]p[^e]cher; prob. from pref. des- (L.
dis-) + (assumed) LL. pedicare to place obstacles in the way,
fr. L. pedica fetter, fr. pes, pedis, foot. See {Foot}, and
cf. {Impeach}, {Despatch}.] [Written also {despatch}.]
1. To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly;
to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform.
[1913 Webster]
Ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we The business we have talked of. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
[The] harvest men . . . almost in one fair day dispatcheth all the harvest work. --Robynson (More's Utopia). [1913 Webster]
2. To rid; to free. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
I had clean dispatched myself of this great charge. --Udall. [1913 Webster]
3. To get rid of by sending off; to send away hastily. [1913 Webster]
Unless dispatched to the mansion house in the country . . . they perish among the lumber of garrets. --Walpole. [1913 Webster]
4. To send off or away; -- particularly applied to sending off messengers, messages, letters, etc., on special business, and implying haste. [1913 Webster]
Even with the speediest expedition I will dispatch him to the emperor's cou??. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
5. To send out of the world; to put to death. [1913 Webster]
The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. --Ezek. xxiii. 47.
Syn: To expedite; hasten; speed; accelerate; perform; conclude; finish; slay; kill. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
