launch

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Alternative spellings 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Pronunciation 1.4 Verb 1.4.1 Translations 1.5 Noun 1.5.1 Derived terms 1.5.2 See also 1.5.3 Translations 1.6 Anagrams

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• lanch

[edit] Etymology

From Old English launchen (“‘to throw as a lance’”), Old French lanchier, another form of lancier, French lancer, from lance.

[edit] Pronunciation

• enPR: lônch, IPA: /lɔːntʃ/, SAMPA: /lO:ntS/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -ɔːntʃ

[edit] Verb

to launch (third-person singular simple present launches, present participle launching, simple past and past participle launched)

1. (transitive) To throw, as a lance or dart; to hurl; to let fly; to take off, propel with force

   • launch the space shuttle, launch a ship

2. (transitive, obsolete) To strike with, or as with, a lance; to pierce.

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Launch your hearts with lamentable wounds. - Edmund Spenser

3. (transitive) To cause to move or slide from the land into the water; to set afloat; as, to launch a ship.

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, And rolled on levers, launched her in the deep. - Alexander Pope

4. (transitive) To send out; to start (one) on a career; to set going; to give a start to (something); to put in operation.

   launch a son in the world

   launch a business project or enterprise.

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): All art is used to sink episcopacy, and launch presbytery in England. - Eikon Basilike

5. (intransitive, often with out) To move with force and swiftness like a sliding from the stocks into the water; to plunge; to make a beginning; as, to launch into the current of a stream; to launch into an argument or discussion; to launch into lavish expenditures.

   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. - Luke 5:4

     (A date for this quote is being sought): He [Spenser] launches out into very flowery paths. - Matthew Prior

   • 1969, Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, ch. 23:

     My class was wearing butter-yellow pique dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing puckers, then shirred the rest of the bodice.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

launch (plural launches)

1. The act of launching.
2. The movement of a vessel from land into the water; especially, the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built. (Compare: to splash a ship.)
3. (nautical) The boat of the largest size and/or of most importance belonging to a ship of war, and often called the "captain's boat" or "captain's launch".
4. (nautical) A boat used to convey guests to and from a yaucht.
5. (nautical) An open boat of any size powered by steam, naphtha, electricity, or the like. (Compare Spanish lancha.)

[edit] Derived terms

• launching ways
• captain’s launch

[edit] See also

• barge
• boat
• ship’s boat
• yacht

[edit] Translations

[edit] Anagrams

• Alphagram: achlnu
• nuchal