launch

English Online Dictionary. What means launch‎? What does launch mean?

English

Alternative forms

• lanch (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: lônch, IPA^(key): /lɔːnt͡ʃ/
  • (some accents) enPR: länch, IPA^(key): /lɑːnt͡ʃ/
• (US) enPR: lônch, IPA^(key): /lɔnt͡ʃ/, [lɒnt͡ʃ]
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /lɑnt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɔːntʃ

Etymology 1

From Middle English launchen (“to throw as a lance”), Old French lanchier, another form (Old Northern French/Norman variant, compare Jèrriais lanchi) of lancier, French lancer, from lance.

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.

   Synonyms: fling, hurl; see also Thesaurus:throw
2. (transitive, obsolete) To pierce with, or as with, a lance.

   Synonyms: lance, pierce
3. (transitive) To cause (a vessel) to move or slide from the land or a larger vessel into the water; to set afloat.
   • 1725–1726, Alexander Pope, Homer's Odyssey (translation), Book V

     With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, / And rolled on levers, launched her in the deep.

4. (transitive) To cause (a rocket, balloon, etc., or the payload thereof) to begin its flight upward from the ground.

5. (transitive) To send out; to start (someone) on a mission or project; to give a start to (something); to put in operation
6. (transitive, computing) To start (a program or feature); to execute or bring into operation.

7. (transitive) To release; to put onto the market for sale
8. (intransitive) Of a ship, rocket, balloon, etc.: to depart on a voyage; to take off.
9. (intransitive, often with out) To move with force and swiftness like a sliding from the stocks into the water; to plunge; to begin.

10. (intransitive, computing, of a program) To start to operate.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ⇒ Irish: lainseáil
• ⇒ Welsh: lansio

Translations

Noun

launch (plural launches)

1. 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.)
2. The act or fact of launching (a ship/vessel, a project, a new book, etc.).
3. An event held to celebrate the launch of a ship/vessel, project, a new book, etc.; a launch party.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• launching ways

Translations

Etymology 2

From Portuguese lancha (“barge, launch”), apparently from Malay lancar (“quick, agile”). Spelling influenced by the verb above.

Noun

launch (plural launches)

1. (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".
2. (nautical) A boat used to convey guests to and from a yacht.
3. (nautical) An open boat of any size powered by steam, petrol, electricity, etc.

Derived terms

• captain's launch

Descendants

• → Irish: lainse

Translations

See also

• barge
• boat
• ship’s boat
• yacht

References

Anagrams

• chulan, nuchal