launch

launch is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 8 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.To strike with, or as with, a lance; to pierce. [Obs.] Launch your hearts with lamentable wounds. Spenser.
  2. 2.To cause to move or slide from the land into the water; to set afloat; as, to launch a ship. With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, And rolled on levers, launched her in the deep. Pope.
  3. 3.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. All art is used to sink episcopacy, and launch presbytery in England. Eikon Basilike.
  4. 4.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. Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Luke v.
  5. 5.He [Spenser] launches out into very flowery paths. Prior.
  6. 6.The act of launching.
  7. 7.The movement of a vessel from land into the water; especially, the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built.
  8. 8.Etym: [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. Launching ways. (Naut.) See Way, n. (Naut.).

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is launch.

Sources

  • Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
  • Synonyms & antonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
  • Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/launch
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