dispatch

AUSduh-SPACH/dəˈspæt͡ʃ/UKdi-SPACH/dɪˈspætʃ/

16 meanings of dispatch

1
send goodsverbtransitive
To send a shipment on its way promptly.
The warehouse can dispatch an order within two hours of payment.
The supplier dispatched the replacement parts by overnight courier.
Similarsend, ship, forward, mail
Oppositereceive
Note
Sending goods on their way is the everyday heart of a verb that came from Spanish despachar or Italian dispacciare, displacing depeach, an earlier borrowing of French dépêcher. Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall has the first known written use, in 1517, in the past tense and spelled dispached. Further back it is Latin impedicō with dis- in front, the same verb that gave impeach.
2
send awayverbtransitive
To send a person away in haste.
Sensing trouble, the general dispatched his family to the coast that same night.
Rather than argue, she would dispatch any unwanted visitor with a polite excuse.
Similarsend, dismiss
3
emergency missionnouncountable
A mission undertaken by an emergency response service, typically one that sends a crew out to handle an emergency on site.
Each dispatch is logged with the time the crew reached the scene.
Paramedics averaged nine dispatches per shift during the heat wave.
Similarcall, run, callout
4
official messagenouncountable
Something sent off or settled promptly, such as a shipment, a quick piece of business or an official message.
Leaked diplomatic dispatches described the minister as vain and unreliable.
The colonel's dispatch reached headquarters two days after the battle.
Similarmessage, report
5
killverbtransitive
To finish off someone or something with speed and efficiency.
The game rewards players who dispatch enemies quickly and quietly.
The vet dispatched the badly injured deer as gently as she could.
Similarkill, destroy
6
defeatverbtransitive
To defeat an opponent or rival, as in a game or contest.
The top seed dispatched his first-round opponent in straight sets.
The home side needed only two late goals to dispatch the league leaders.
Similardefeat, beat, overcome, eliminate
7
send reporterverbtransitive
To send a journalist to a place to report on events there.
Dozens of correspondents were dispatched to the capital to cover the trial.
Few local papers can still afford to dispatch a reporter to a foreign summit.
Similarsend, assign, post
8
send messageverbtransitive
To have a diplomat or military officer carry an important official message without delay.
The commander dispatched the surrender terms with a colonel under a flag of truce.
Governments still dispatch their most sensitive letters by diplomatic courier.
Similarsend, transmit, forward
9
finish quicklyverbtransitive
To carry out or finish a task or piece of business quickly, bringing it to a speedy end.
The committee dispatched the rest of the agenda in twenty minutes.
An experienced clerk can dispatch routine paperwork without breaking concentration.
Similarfinish, complete, conclude, settle
10
speednoununcountable
Prompt, speedy action in getting something done.
The city cleared the fallen trees with remarkable dispatch.
The judge moved through the minor cases with dispatch before turning to the main trial.
Similarhaste, hurry, rapidity
Oppositeslowness, delay
Note
Its home is the phrase with dispatch, a compliment to efficiency rather than mere speed. Haste and hurry can hint at flurry or carelessness; dispatch suggests competence, which is why it suits businesslike prose about judges, committees and crews. John Fell in 1661 could even put an article in front: an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy.

11
verbtransitive
In computing, to pass something on for further processing, especially through a dispatch table.
The event loop dispatches each incoming message to the handler registered for its type.
The runtime looks up the object's type so it can dispatch the call to the right method.
Similarroute, send, forward
Note
Programmers use the verb with to, naming where the work lands: a message is dispatched to an object, an event to its handler, a call to a method. The dispatch table behind it is a lookup list that sends each kind of request straight to its routine, so the program never has to test the possibilities one by one.
12
noununcountable
In computing, the handing on of a message for further processing, especially by way of a dispatch table.
Dynamic dispatch lets the same method call run different code for different kinds of object.
Profiling showed that most of the delay came from message dispatch, not from the handlers.
Note
Timing divides it: in static dispatch the routine to run is fixed when the code is compiled; in dynamic dispatch it is picked while the program runs, from the type of the object receiving the message. The noun usually travels in compounds like these, and in others such as method dispatch and message dispatch.
13
free fromverbtransitive
To rid or free someone of something, such as a burden or duty.
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
1548, Nicholas Udall, “The preface of Erasmus unto his paraphrase upon the Gospel of the Evangelist Matthew”
Note
The construction carries this sense: one dispatches oneself, or someone else, of a burden, with of naming what is shed, as rid does. Nicholas Udall's 1548 English of Erasmus speaks of having "cleane dispatched myself of this great charge and taske". Without that of-phrase the verb slides back toward the "finish quickly" meaning.
14
hurryverbobsoleteintransitive
To hurry or make haste.
“Proceed, friend Nicolas, and let us dispatch; for, it grows late.”
1755, Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
Note
Once the verb stood alone as a call to hurry: Othello has "prithee, dispatch", be quick about it, and Smollett's 1755 Don Quixote still writes "let us dispatch; for it grows late." The haste survives in the phrase with dispatch, but the bare verb now belongs to period dialogue.
15
take awayverbobsoletetransitive
To take something away from someone, leaving them without it.
Note
The sense is obsolete, and a modern reader meeting it would almost certainly hear the "kill" meaning instead; write deprive. Its nearest relative is the "rid" meaning: both take something away from a person, though there the loss is welcome and here it is not.
16
dismissalnounobsoletecountable
The act of dismissing someone, whether from a place or from a post.
Note
Dismissal is the word to use: this noun, once the partner of sending a person away, is obsolete, and a dispatch today means a message or shipment, not someone shown the door.

Practice

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Origin

From Spanish despachar or Italian dispacciare, replacing the earlier form depeach (from French dépêcher), and ultimately, through several steps, from Latin dis- + impedicō (the source of impeach). It is first recorded in 1517, as dispached, in the writing of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall: unusually early for a borrowing from a Romance language other than French, but Tunstall had studied in Italy and was Commissioner to Spain, so the word may have come in through diplomatic circles. The spelling despatch was introduced in Samuel Johnson's dictionary, probably by accident.