(dispatches, dispatching, dispatched)
Note: in BRIT, also use 'despatch'
1.
If you dispatch someone to a place, you send them there for a particular reason. (FORMAL)
He dispatched scouts ahead...
The Italian government was preparing to dispatch 4,000 soldiers to search the island.
= send
VERB: V n adv/prep, V n to-inf
•
Dispatch is also a noun.
The despatch of the task force is purely a contingency measure.
N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n
2.
If you dispatch a message, letter, or parcel, you send it to a particular person or destination. (FORMAL)
The victory inspired him to dispatch a gleeful telegram to Roosevelt...
Free gifts are dispatched separately so please allow 28 days for delivery.
= send
VERB: V n prep/adv, be V-ed, also V n
•
Dispatch is also a noun.
We have 125 cases ready for dispatch.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
A dispatch is a special report that is sent to a newspaper or broadcasting organization by a journalist who is in a different town or country.
...this despatch from our West Africa correspondent.
= bulletin
N-COUNT
4.
A dispatch is a message or report that is sent, for example, by army officers or government officials to their headquarters.
I was carrying dispatches from the ambassador.
N-COUNT
5.
To dispatch a person or an animal means to kill them. (OLD-FASHIONED)
The fox takes his chance with a pack of hounds which may catch him and despatch him immediately.
VERB: V n