dispatch. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

dispatch

SYLLABICATION:	dis·patch
PRONUNCIATION:	d-spch
VARIANT FORMS:	also des·patch
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: dis·patched, dis·patch·ing, dis·patch·es 1. To relegate to a specific destination or send on specific business. See synonyms at send¹. 2a. To complete, transact, or dispose of promptly. b. To eat up (food); finish off (a dish or meal). 3. To put to death summarily.
NOUN:	1. The act of sending off, as to a specific destination. 2. Dismissal or rejection of something regarded as unimportant or unworthy of consideration: “[his] breezy dispatch of another Establishment fiction writer” (Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair January 1994). 3. The act of putting to death. 4. Speed in performance or movement. See synonyms at haste. 5. (also dspch)a. A written message, particularly an official communication, sent with speed. b. An important message sent by a diplomat or an officer in the armed forces. 6. (also dspch) A news item sent to a news organization, as by a correspondent. 7. An organization or conveyance for delivering goods.
ETYMOLOGY:	Spanish despachar or Italian dispacciare, both probably ultimately from Old Provençal empachar, to impede, from Vulgar Latin ^*impctre, frequentative of Latin impingere, to dash against. See impinge.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.