# dispatch

Pronunciation: US/AUS say "duh-SPACH" /dəˈspæt͡ʃ/; UK say "di-SPACH" /dɪˈspætʃ/

## Verb

1. To send a shipment on its way promptly.
   - Simple: To send goods or a package off quickly.
   - _The warehouse can dispatch an order within two hours of payment._
   - _The supplier dispatched the replacement parts by overnight courier._
2. To send a person away in haste.
   - Simple: To send someone away quickly.
   - _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._
5. To finish off someone or something with speed and efficiency.
   - Simple: To kill or destroy someone or something quickly.
   - _The game rewards players who dispatch enemies quickly and quietly._
   - _The vet dispatched the badly injured deer as gently as she could._
6. To defeat an opponent or rival, as in a game or contest.
   - Simple: To beat a team or player 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._
7. To send a journalist to a place to report on events there.
   - Simple: To send a reporter somewhere to report the news from 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._
8. To have a diplomat or military officer carry an important official message without delay.
   - Simple: To quickly send an important official message, carried by a diplomat or an army officer.
   - _The commander dispatched the surrender terms with a colonel under a flag of truce._
   - _Governments still dispatch their most sensitive letters by diplomatic courier._
9. To carry out or finish a task or piece of business quickly, bringing it to a speedy end.
   - Simple: To finish a job or a piece of business quickly.
   - _The committee dispatched the rest of the agenda in twenty minutes._
   - _An experienced clerk can dispatch routine paperwork without breaking concentration._
11. In computing, to pass something on for further processing, especially through a dispatch table.
   - Simple: In computing, to pass something on to another part of a program to be handled.
   - _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._
13. To rid or free someone of something, such as a burden or duty.
   - Simple: To make someone free of something, such as a duty or a task.

## Noun

3. A mission undertaken by an emergency response service, typically one that sends a crew out to handle an emergency on site.
   - Simple: A trip that an emergency team makes to go and deal with an emergency.
   - _Each dispatch is logged with the time the crew reached the scene._
   - _Paramedics averaged nine dispatches per shift during the heat wave._
4. Something sent off or settled promptly, such as a shipment, a quick piece of business or an official message.
   - Simple: Something sent off quickly, like a package or an important official message from a government or army.
   - _Leaked diplomatic dispatches described the minister as vain and unreliable._
   - _The colonel's dispatch reached headquarters two days after the battle._
10. Prompt, speedy action in getting something done.
   - Simple: Speed in getting something done, without waiting.
   - _The city cleared the fallen trees with remarkable dispatch._
   - _The judge moved through the minor cases with dispatch before turning to the main trial._
12. In computing, the handing on of a message for further processing, especially by way of a dispatch table.
   - Simple: In computing, the passing of a message to the part of a program that will deal with it.
   - _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._

## Verb

14. To hurry or make haste. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To be quick and hurry up.
15. To take something away from someone, leaving them without it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To take something away from someone.

## Noun

16. The act of dismissing someone, whether from a place or from a post. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The act of sending someone away or letting them go.

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dispatch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).