GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found 3 definitions
-
Launch (la̤nch or länch), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Launched (la̤ncht or läncht); p. pr. & vb. n. Launching.] [OE. launchen to throw as a lance, OF. lanchier, another form of lancier, F. lancer, fr. lance lance. See Lance.] [Written also lanch.]
1. To throw, as a lance or dart; to hurl; to let fly.
[1913 Webster]
2. To strike with, or as with, a lance; to pierce. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Launch your hearts with lamentable wounds. Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
3. To cause to move or slide from the land into the water; to set afloat; as, “to launch a ship”.
[1913 Webster]
With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship,
And rolled on levers, launched her in the deep. Pope.
[1913 Webster]
4. To send out; to start (one) on a career; to set going; to give a start to (something); to put in operation; as, “to launch a son in the world; to launch a business project or enterprise.”
[1913 Webster]
All art is used to sink episcopacy, and launch presbytery in England. Eikon Basilike.
[1913 Webster]
-
Launch, v. i. 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”; -- often with out.
[1913 Webster]
Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Luke v. 4.
[1913 Webster]
He [Spenser] launches out into very flowery paths. Prior.
[1913 Webster]
-
Launch, n.
1. The act of launching.
[1913 Webster]
2. The movement of a vessel from land into the water; especially, the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built.
[1913 Webster]
3. [Cf. Sp. lancha.] (Naut.) The boat of the largest size belonging to a ship of war; also, an open boat of any size driven by steam, naphtha, electricity, or the like.
[1913 Webster]
Launching ways. (Naut.) See Way, n. (Naut.).
[1913 Webster]