dispatch

present singular third person dispatches · participle present dispatching · participle past dispatched · past dispatched · alternative obsolete depeche · alternative Australia UK despatch

1. transitiveTo send (a shipment) with promptness.
2. transitiveTo send (a person) away hastily.

   1 more example

   The League of One was suddenly exposed and in danger of being hunted by enemies of the salarians. Before any harm could be done, the team mysteriously disappeared.[...]Realizing the threat posed by this rogue outfit, the Special Tasks Group dispatched a team of hunters. When they didn't return, the STG dispatched ten of its brightest operators with broad discretionary powers. Only two returned; they reported no evidence of the League.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians: League of One Codex entry

3. transitiveTo send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military officer.
4. transitiveTo 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.

   2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times

5. transitiveTo 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.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

   1 more example

   the which company of harvest men, being ready at the day appointed, almost in one fair day dispatcheth all the harvest work.

   1751 [1516], Thomas More, translated by Gilbert Burnet, Utopia, translation of original in New Latin

   Synonyms: expedite

6. transitiveTo eat, especially quickly.
7. transitiveTo 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

   1548, Nicholas Udall, “The preface of Erasmus unto his paraphrase upon the Gospel of the Evangelist Matthew”, in The first tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the newe testamente, translation of original by Desiderius Erasmus, page 33

8. transitiveTo destroy (someone or something) quickly and efficiently.

   "And our dogs used to tree the cats on our property here, and we'd dispatch them."

   2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 146

   2 more examples

   Those who were not the first to dip their spears in the blood of the victims, but merely helped to despatch them

   1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 95

   So Tyrion hatches one last brilliant scheme in a season full of them, and this one goes exactly as well as all the others, even if it doesn’t look like it at first. He alone takes a meeting with Cersei, in her chambers, with the Mountain ready and waiting to dispatch him.

   2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

   Synonyms: destroy, kill

9. transitiveTo defeat

   Gareth Southgate's side had little trouble dispatching the side 172nd in the Fifa rankings.

   2023 June 17, Emma Smith, “Malta 0-4 England”, in BBC Sport

10. transitivecomputingTo 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[…]

    2004, Peter Gutmann, Cryptographic Security Architecture: Design and Verification, page 102

11. intransitiveobsoleteTo hurry.

    prithee, dispatch

    c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

    1 more example

    “Proceed, friend Nicolas, and let us dispatch; for, it grows late.”

    1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, I.6

12. obsoletetransitiveTo deprive.

plural dispatches · alternative obsolete depeche · alternative Australia UK despatch

1. countableuncountableA 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.

   1 more example

   WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, but could not prove, and would cite as they took to the streets. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.

   2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18

2. countableuncountableThe act of doing something quickly.

   We must act with dispatch in this matter.

   2 more examples

   During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]

   1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

   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.

   2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly)

   Synonyms: haste, hurry, rapidity

3. countableuncountableA mission by an emergency response service, typically involving attending to an emergency in the field.
4. countableuncountablecomputingThe passing on of a message for further processing, especially through a dispatch table.
5. countableobsoleteuncountableA dismissal.