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"An indispensable tool for writers." - School Library Journal.
Your word for today is: launch, v.
launch, v.
Pronunciation: (/lɔːnʃ/, formerly /lɑːnʃ/)
Forms:ME launche, (ME laun-, lawnchyn, launsche, lonch), ME–15 lawnche, ME–18 lanch(e, (15 lange, launge), 15– launch.
Etymology: < Old Northern French lancher = Central Old French lancier: see lance v.
†1.
a. trans. To pierce, transfix, wound; cut, slit; to make (a wound) by piercing. Also with up. Obs.
1460 Libeaus Desc. 293(Kaluza) Wiþ his sper he will launche All þat aȝens him rit.
1484 Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope v. x,Two rammes within a medowe whiche with theyr hornes launched eche other.
c1540 Destr. Troy 6811Toax‥with a tore speire‥hym launchit to dethe.
1590 Spenser Faerie Queene iii. ii. 37Whose love hath gryde My feeble brest of late, and launched this wound wyde.
1596 Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene vi. ii. 6A sharpe bore-speare, With which he wont to launch the salvage hart Of many a Lyon.
?1610 J. Fletcher Faithfull Shepheardesse iv. sig. G4,Hee, Directed by his fury Bloodelye, Lanch't vpp her brest.
1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 12In the beginning of August lanch they the rine, from whence the masticke distilleth.
1672 Dryden Conquest Granada i. i. i. 2Nine Bulls were launch'd by his victorious arm.
†b. To cut with a lancet, to lance; to let out (infection) by lancing. Obs.
2. 1426 Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgr. Lyf Man 18357For pouerte Is bothe medicyne and leche To launche the bocche off Properte.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 82 a,So wil they giue them more‥to feede their sores then to launch them.
1598 Queen Elizabeth I tr. Plutarch De Curiositate in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings (1899) xiv. 23As wound that bloudies hit self while hit is Launged.
1604 M. Drayton Owle sig. C3,To lanch th' infection of a poysoned state.
1617 J. Woodall Surgions Mate 15If you bewary you neede not launch or cut the gumme at all.
1641 T. Edwards Reasons against Independant Govt. Congregations 10The foote‥is dressed, lanched and ordered, not by it selfe, but by the hands and eyes.
fig.
1625 F. Quarles Sions Elegies ii. xiv. D 2 b,Thy Prophets‥Rubb'd where they should haue launcht.
1631 T. Fuller Heartie Repentance xvii, in Davids Sinne sig. C3,Nathan, than whom, was none more skil'd to lanch A festreed soule.
a. To hurl, shoot, discharge, send off (a missile) (cf. lance v.1); spec. to send off (a rocket, spacecraft, or the like, or an astronaut) on its (or his) course: (cf. 4b, from which this use may equally derive). †Also, to heave (the lead).
?a1400 Morte Arth. 750Schipe-mene‥Launchez lede apone lufe.
1490 Caxton's Blanchardyn & Eglantine (1962) xliii. 164Launchynge and castyng to hym speres and dartes.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 245And lanch'd against their Navy Phrygian Fire.
1791 A. Radcliffe Romance of Forest II. ix. 46All the thunders of Heaven seemed launched at this defenceless head!
1808 Scott Marmion i. Introd. 80Nor mourn ye less his perished worth Who‥launched that thunderbolt of war On Egypt.
1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 268Much as they thirsted for his blood, they forebore to launch a shaft.
1873 L. Mercier & E. C. King tr. J. Verne From Earth to Moon 145The gun destined to launch the projectile had to be fixed in a country situated between the 0 and 28th degrees of north or south latitude.
1873 L. Mercier & E. C. King tr. J. Verne From Earth to Moon 145Launched on the 1st of December,‥it ought to reach the moon four days after its departure.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 50/1A forecastle deck large enough to enable a seaplane to be launched therefrom on a light subsidiary carriage.
1952 Oxf. Junior Encycl. X. 17/2The German guided missiles‥launched against London from the French coast were driven by their own power and were automatically controlled.
1957 Britannica Bk. of Year 443The first artificial earth satellite‥was launched from a site in the U.S.S.R.‥on Oct. 4, 1957.
1960 J. N. Bell Seven into Space i. 15He knows an excitement so intense that it seems he can no longer contain it. The first American has been launched into space.
1972 A. C. Kermode Mech. of Flight (ed. 8) xii. 390As with the X15 these [sc. lifting bodies] are launched from a mother craft.
1974 Daily Tel. 14 Feb. 1/3Two more spaceships, Mars-6, and Mars-7, which were launched last August, were due to approach the planet next month.
absol.
c1500 Melusine (1895) xxi. 137Thanne bygan the Cypryens‥to shote & to launche on the paynemes.
b. with immaterial object, e.g. a blow, censure, threat, sentence.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VI. cxxiii. 390The best in the world to launch a gum.
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism (1878) I. 251Week after week he launched from the pulpit the most scathing invectives.
1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) III. xii. 89The assembled Fathers at once went on to launch the censures of the church against offenders of every degree.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. II. xvi. 345A threat launched especially at the Despensers.
1886 G. T. Stokes Ireland & Celtic Church (1888) 171Jerome, therefore, launched a treatise against him.
†c. To throw (a person); refl. to hurl oneself, dart, rush. Obs.
a1400 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 1904The louerd‥in a bed he dede hire launche.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. xxxix. 315Then do they launch themselves foorth.
d. To dart forward (a weapon, a limb, etc.). Now only, to dart out (something long and flexible).
3. c1405 (1395) Chaucer Summoner's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 437Down his hand he launcheth to the clifte.
1426 Lydgate tr. G. de Guileville Pilgr. Lyf Man 461Hyr syxthe hand she gan to launche Lowe doun vn-to hyr haunche.
1484 Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope iii. ii,The booll‥smote strongly whith his feet after the man and launched his hornes at hym.
1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. 293/1The whole tongue is then launched out with a rapidity that is perfectly amazing.
a. intr. for refl. To be set into sudden or rapid motion; to rush, plunge, start or shoot forth; †to leap, vault; transf. to 'skip' in reading. Obs. exc. dial.
13.. K. Alis. 3746He gan in the water launche: Up he cam in that othir side.
?a1400 Morte Arth. 194Of ilke a leche the lowe launschide fulle hye.
?a1400 Morte Arth. 2560Who lukes to the lefte syde, whene his horse launches.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 290/2Lawnchyn, or skyppyn ouer a dyke,‥perconto.
1480 Caxton tr. Ovid Metamorphosis xi. xix,The mortal floodes launchid in by the places opend.
?a1500 Chester Pl. vii. 469Lanch on! I will not be the last upon Mary for to marveyle.
c1540 Destr. Troy 12307Þai demet þe duke‥to‥launche out of towne.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum,Launche to shore, appellere ripam.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Biiiv/2,To Lanch ouer a boke, percurrere.
1787 T. Best Conc. Treat. Angling (ed. 2) 45He [a fish] will launch and plunge in such a manner, that‥he will tear away his hold.
1814 W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) I. 317The poor animal‥gazed at me‥and then launching away to the left, I presently heard it plunge into the river.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830),Launch, to take long strides.
†b. transf. To shoot, sprout. Also, to project.
1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 90Thei ben bastard braunches that launchen from oure bileve.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 49The Cape lanches into the Sea with Three Points.
c. fig. (Now usually with out.) To enter boldly or freely into a course of action; to rush into expense; to burst out into unrestrained speech. †to launch it out: to flaunt, make a display.
4. 1608 T. Middleton Familie of Love (new ed.) v. sig. I3,If master Gerardine‥would yet be induced to take your Neece‥would you launch with a thousand pound, besides her fathers portion?
1624 W. Bedel Copies Certaine Lett. vii. 115Thus Pamelius; and presently lanches forth into the Priuiledges of the See of Rome.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Spanish Curat ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. E3/2,When you love, lanch it out in silks and velvets.
1686 R. Boyle Free Enq. Notion Nature vi. 196,I want time to launch into an ample discourse.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 49. ⁋4He enjoys a great Fortune handsomly, without lanching into Expence.
1713 Pope in Guardian 16 Mar. 2/2There is no Subject I could launch into with more Pleasure than your Panegyrick.
1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. vii. 88He has perhaps launch'd out in trade beyond his reach.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet iv. 430,I have lanch'd out of my Subject in this Article.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 96One launching out upon my Complexion, another upon my Eyes.
c1820 S. Rogers Descent in Italy 38For awhile he held his peace‥But soon, the danger passed, launched forth again.
1855 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity iii. vii. (1864) II. 143The triumphant Pontiff‥launches out into a panegyric on the mercy and benignity of the usurper.
1864 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia IV. xvi. xv. 492,I began to launch out on Friedrich's actions; but he interrupted me rapidly.
1887 A. Jessopp Arcady i. 9The small man‥is‥slow to launch out into expense when things are going well.
1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men I. iii. 358You could not vex him more than by launching out against some common acquaintance.
1888 J. Ruskin Præterita III. i. 11She launched involuntarily into an eager and beautiful little sermon.
a. trans. To cause (a vessel) to move or slide from the land, or the stocks, into the water; to set afloat; to lower (a boat) into the water.
?a1400 Morte Arth. 3921He‥Gers lawnche his botes appone a lawe watire.
1449 R. Wenyngton in Paston Lett. & Papers (2005) III. 69They lonchyd a bote.
1511 in Nottingham Rec. III. 332To lawnche the boote in to the water.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccccxiii. 722There came two other barkes‥and anone they were langed into the ryuer.
1555 Act 2 & 3 Ph. & Mary c. 16 §7Before the said Boate‥bee lanched out of the Yarde or Grounde.
a1593 Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. E4v,Was this the face that launcht a thousand shippes?
1653 H. Holcroft tr. Procopius Hist. Wars iii. x. 92He lancht into the Tiber also 200. Pinnaces.
1712 Pope Sappho in tr. Ovid Epist. (ed. 8) 20O launch thy Bark, nor fear the watry Plain.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. III. 288From these sheds they are launched into the deep canals.
1821 J. Baillie Columbus in Metrical Legends lviii. 2Ere from his home He launch his vent'rous bark.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. iii. 45Our boats must be sledged over some 60‥miles of terrible ice before launching and loading them.
b. In wider sense: To send off, start upon a course, send adrift; spec. to release (a balloon or its contents) into the air at the beginning of a flight. (Cf. 2.)
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xiii. 62Out goes the boat, they are lanched from the ship side.
a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) I. 217When Pudding-Wives were launcht in cock quean Stools.
1716 Pope tr. Homer Iliad II. viii. 455Haste, launch thy Chariot, thro' yon Ranks to ride.
1819 Scott Ivanhoe III. i. 8Fling open the door, and lanch the floating bridge.
1824 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. I. 83/1It was soon found, that a balloon, launched into the atmosphere, is abandoned, without guidance or command, to the mercy of the winds.
1855 D. Brewster Mem. Life I. Newton (new ed.) I. xiii. 359The planets, like the comets, might have been launched in different directions.
1959 Chambers's Encycl. I. 103/2On 19 Sept. 1783‥they launched a sheep, a cock and a duck into the air, enclosed in a basket suspended beneath the balloon.
c. fig. To start (a person) in, into, or on a business, career, etc.; to set on foot (a project); to commence (an action). Also with out. to launch into eternity: rhetorically for 'to put to death'.
1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida iv. sig. Gv,Was neuer Prince‥With louder shouts of tryumph launched out Into the surgy maine of gouernment.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 217Being lanched again into the gulf of misery.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 108. ¶7We find several Citizens that were lanched into the World with narrow Fortunes.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 298,I am now launch'd quite beside my Design.
1802 Med. Jrnl. viii. 275The mention of this term serves to launch the author into a digression.
1812 Examiner 30 Nov. 768/1The platform, from whence he was to be launched into eternity.
1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville I. 43The worthy captain,‥fairly launched on the broad prairies, with his face to the boundless west.
1839–40 W. Irving Chron. Wolfert's Roost (1855) 213It was agreed that‥as soon as I should be fairly launched in business we would be married.
1863 'G. Eliot' Romola I. vi. 104The pretty youngster‥was well launched in Bardo's favourable regard.
1872 J. Yeats Growth Commerce 275The Mississippi scheme launched by John Law.
1884 H. B. Buckley in Law Times Rep. 22 Mar. 115/1The plaintiff himself has launched this action in the Chancery Division.
d. To publish (a book); to put (a product, etc.) on the market.
1870 'M. Twain' Lett. to Publishers (1967) 45We'll have someone standing ready to launch a book right on our big tidal wave and swim it into a success.
1919 J. Quinn Let. 3 Oct. in T. S. Eliot Waste Land Drafts (1971) p. xvii,My part in connection with launching your book is finished.
1926 H. Crane Let. 5 Dec. (1965) 278Once this first book is really launched and off my mind.
1966 Listener 17 Nov. 716/3The complicated process of launching a new American car.
1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques v. 25To launch a product is a complex project.
5. intr. Of the ship: To be launched, to pass into the water.
1665 London Gaz. No. 5/4,The Resolution now in the Dock, Launches on Tuesday 28.
1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin iii. iii. 67A fourth,‥with some Prayers and three signings of the Cross made a Ship lanch with few men.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine (1780) H 4,Cradles, placed under the bottom, to conduct the ship‥into the water whilst lanching.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 26 Nov. 6/2The payment was refused on the ground that the Deal lifeboat launched to the same wreck.
6. To push forth, out from land, put to sea, advance seawards; lit. and fig.to launch into eternity: rhetorically for 'to die'.
7. trans. Naut.1534 Bible (Tyndale rev. Joye) Luke v. 4He sayde vnto Simon: Launche out in to the depe.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde ii. i. f. 55v,He lanched from that lande, and directed his course to Vraba.
1600 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. (rev. ed.) f. 50v,The Thames‥That daunc'd with my Barge in launching from the stayre.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies i. xviii. 60,I doe not finde in ancient bookes, that they have lanched farre into the Ocean.
a1656 Bp. J. Hall Shaking of Olive-tree (1660) ii. 385What need I lanch forth into this forrain deep?
1676 Dryden Aureng-Zebe ii. 25Lanching out into a Sea of strife.
1720 D. Manley Power of Love i. 123He was afraid his Soul should launch into Eternity without a Guide to direct his Penitence.
1725 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman I. ii. 23The time of my servitude [has] expir'd, and I am launch'd forth into the great ocean of business.
1766 Hume Let. to H. Walpole in W.'s Remin. 165,I find I am launching out insensibly into an immense ocean of common-place.
1769 E. Burke Observ. Late State Nation 73We must have launched into a new sea, I fear a boundless sea, of expence.
1773 Johnson Let. 21 Sept. (1992) II. 77We launched into one of the straits of the Atlantick Ocean.
1838 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xii. 107Before any Greek navigator ventured‥to launch out beyond Sicily.
1875 H. W. Longfellow Pandora ii,Forth I launch On the sustaining air.
†a. To set up, hoist (a yard).
b. To move (casks, heavy goods, etc.) by pushing.
c. 'Launch-ho! The order to let go the top-rope, after the top-mast has been swayed up and fidded' (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867).
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 41Vnparrell the mizen yard and lanch it, and the saile ouer her Lee quarter.
1692 Smith's Sea-mans Gram. i. xvi. 79When a Yard is hoisted high enough, they usually call aloud Launch-hôe, that is hoise no more.
1711 W. Sutherland Ship-builders Assistant 161To Launch;‥to leave off pulling, haling, or heaving.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl.,Launch, a term used in several sea phrases, as launch out the capstan bars, that is, put them out; launch aft, or foreward on, that is, when things are stowed in the hold, to put them more aft, or foreward on.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine (1780),Lanch, the order to let go the top-rope, after any top-mast is fided.
8. Public School slang. (See quots.)
1865 G. F. Berkeley My Life & Recoll. I. 129,I had [at Sandhurst about 1815] to undergo the usual torments of being 'launched', that is, having my bed reversed while I was asleep [etc.].
1878 H. C. Adams Wykehamica 426Launch, to drag a boy, bed-clothes, mattress, and all, off his bedstead on to the floor.
9. intr. To propel a boat with a pole, etc.; spec. in Wild-fowl shooting (see quot. 1824).
1824 P. Hawker Instr. Young Sportsmen (ed. 3) 329Off they set,‥crawling on their knees, and shoving this punt before them on the mud. Thus travelling all night (by 'launching' over the mud, and rowing across the creeks).
1856 P. Thompson Hist. & Antiq. Boston, Lincoln 713Launching—propelling a barge or small vessel in a river by means of a poy.
10. dial. (See quot. 1847.)
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I. (at cited word),To launch leeks is to plant them like celery in trenches. West.
To throw (a person); refl., to hurl oneself; dart, rush. Also fig.
1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy V. xxix. 104Gymnast‥launched himself aloft into the air.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick cxxxiv. 617The first uprising momentum of the whale‥involuntarily launched him along it [sc. the boat], to a little distance from the centre of the destruction he had made.
1872 'M. Twain' Roughing It li. 362He then launched himself lovingly into his work.
1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island xvi. 166Rusty‥launched himself at the Sarah-cat. The stately animal had stopped washing her face and was looking at him curiously.
a1961 P. Rooney in Webster II. 1278/1Suddenly launched himself from between his guards‥and vanished into the rocks and heather, still handcuffed.
1992 Boston Globe 31 July 68/4She thundered down the runway, launched herself skyward and struck her first vault for a 9.975.
b. fig. Of a product, enterprise, etc.: to begin operation or trading; to be made publicly available.
1968 Campaign 1 Nov. 1/5Since Campaign launched on September 12, [etc.].
1984 Broadcast 7 Dec. 8/1Called Beeb, it launches on 29 January with an initial print run of 400,000 and is clearly aimed to rival ITV's paper.
1987 Times 2 Apr. 19/3When the new publishing house of Bloomsbury launches today, its fictional first-born will be Trust by Mary Flanagan.
1991 Campaign 16 Aug. 10/5With‥Black Briton launching shortly.
11. Mil. To mount (an assault or offensive); to open (an engagement, hostilities, etc.). Also fig.
1916 Times 18 May 6/3In the Lagarina Valley‥the enemy yesterday launched five violent attacks‥on the slopes north of Zugna Torta.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 601/1A week later the Austrian offensive was launched.
1940 J. Colville Diary 13 Jan. in Fringes of Power (1985) 70The Cabinet has received information that an attack may be launched by the Germans against Holland and Belgium.
1961 G. F. Kennan Russia & West xii. 168He launched an offensive which carried Polish forces in a fortnight all the way to the Dnepr River.
1981 S. Chitty Gwen John vi. 87She launched a campaign of which a general might have been proud.
1988 Financial Times 24 Mar. 46/5A British advertising agency‥has launched a bitter legal attack against six senior‥executives.
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