DISPATCH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dispatch mean? 

• DISPATCH (noun)
  The noun DISPATCH has 4 senses:

1. an official report (usually sent in haste)

2. the act of sending off something

3. the property of being prompt and efficient

4. killing a person or animal

  Familiarity information: DISPATCH used as a noun is uncommon.

• DISPATCH (verb)
  The verb DISPATCH has 5 senses:

1. send away towards a designated goal

2. complete or carry out

3. kill intentionally and with premeditation

4. dispose of rapidly and without delay and efficiently

5. kill without delay

  Familiarity information: DISPATCH used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISPATCH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An official report (usually sent in haste)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

communique; despatch; dispatch

Hypernyms ("dispatch" is a kind of...):

account; news report; report; story; write up (a short account of the news)

Meronyms (parts of "dispatch"):

dateline (a line at the beginning of a news article giving the date and place of origin of the news dispatch)

Derivation:

dispatch (send away towards a designated goal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of sending off something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

despatch; dispatch; shipment

Hypernyms ("dispatch" is a kind of...):

departure; going; going away; leaving (the act of departing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dispatch"):

reshipment (the act of shipping again (especially by transferring to another ship))

Sense 3

Meaning:

The property of being prompt and efficient

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

despatch; dispatch; expedition; expeditiousness

Context example:

it was done with dispatch

Hypernyms ("dispatch" is a kind of...):

celerity; quickness; rapidity; rapidness; speediness (a rate that is rapid)

Derivation:

dispatch (dispose of rapidly and without delay and efficiently)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Killing a person or animal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

despatch; dispatch

Hypernyms ("dispatch" is a kind of...):

kill; killing; putting to death (the act of terminating a life)

Derivation:

dispatch (kill without delay)

dispatch (kill intentionally and with premeditation)

• DISPATCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dispatch    ... he / she / it dispatches   
Past simple: dispatched   
Past participle: dispatched   
-ing form: dispatching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Send away towards a designated goal

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

despatch; dispatch; send off

Hypernyms (to "dispatch" is one way to...):

send; ship; transport (transport commercially)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dispatch"):

bundle off (send off unceremoniously)

route (send documents or materials to appropriate destinations)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They won't dispatch the story

Derivation:

dispatch (an official report (usually sent in haste))

dispatcher (employee of a transportation company who controls the departures of vehicles according to weather conditions and in the interest of efficient service)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Complete or carry out

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

complete; discharge; dispatch

Context example:

discharge one's duties

Hypernyms (to "dispatch" is one way to...):

accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill (put in effect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Kill intentionally and with premeditation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bump off; dispatch; hit; murder; off; polish off; remove; slay

Context example:

The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered

Hypernyms (to "dispatch" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dispatch"):

burke (murder without leaving a trace on the body)

execute (murder in a planned fashion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot dispatch Sue

Derivation:

dispatch (killing a person or animal)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Dispose of rapidly and without delay and efficiently

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

He dispatched the task he was assigned

Hypernyms (to "dispatch" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

dispatch (the property of being prompt and efficient)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Kill without delay

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

the traitor was dispatched by the conspirators

Hypernyms (to "dispatch" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

dispatch (killing a person or animal)

 Context examples 

But I feared so much lest he should do Arthur—that is, Lord Saltire—a mischief, that I dispatched him for safety to Dr. Huxtable’s school.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You will dispatch whatever luggage you intend to take by a trusty messenger unaddressed to Victoria to-night.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dispatching this refreshment by the way, I went in the direction my friend had indicated, and walked on a good distance without coming to the houses he had mentioned.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I dispatched four of them, but the rest got away, and I presently shut my window.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Now, on December 2, the universe is dispatching Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck, to Capricorn, and you are poised to start your best year in 12 years, starting now and ending December 19, 2020.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

So to Baden I went, after dispatching to Holmes an account of all my proceedings and receiving in reply a telegram of half-humorous commendation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, Thomas, I pray you dispatch, for we have a long ride before us and sun has already set.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Soon, however, he saw that our party had the start of him; and Ben Gunn, being fleet of foot, had been dispatched in front to do his best alone.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The coast once clear, our travellers soon sat down and dispatched what the robbers had left, with as much eagerness as if they had not expected to eat again for a month.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

This includes dispatching germs like the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which causes infection in humans and animals.

(Soil Bacterium Tapped for Penicillin Guard Duty, U.S. Department of Agriculture)