dispense

See also: dispensé

English

Etymology

From Old French dispenser, from Latin dispensare (“to weight out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weight out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).

Pronunciation

Verb

dispense (third-person singular simple present dispenses, present participle dispensing, simple past and past participle dispensed)

  1. To issue, distribute, or put out.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company.
    • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber 2005, p.40:
      The smoky spray seemed to trap whatever light there was and to dispense it subtly.
  2. To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
    to dispense justice
    • Dryden
      While you dispense the laws, and guide the state.
  3. To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.
    The pharmacist dispensed my tablets.
    An optician can dispense spectacles.
  4. (obsolete) To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.
    • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: […] Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
      , II.34:
      After his victories, he often gave them the reines to all licenciousnesse, for a while dispencing them from all rules of military discipline […].
    • Macaulay
      It was resolved that all members of the House who held commissions, should be dispensed from parliamentary attendance.
    • Johnson
      He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself.
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To compensate; to make up; to make amends.
    • Spenser
      One loving hour / For many years of sorrow can dispense.
    • Gower
      His sin was dispensed / With gold, whereof it was compensed.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

dispense (plural dispenses)

  1. (obsolete) Cost, expenditure.
  2. (obsolete) The act of dispensing, dispensation.

Derived terms

Further reading

  • dispense in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • dispense in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • dispense at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Deverbal of dispenser.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

dispense f (plural dispenses)

  1. dispensation

Verb

dispense

  1. first-person singular present indicative of dispenser
  2. third-person singular present indicative of dispenser
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of dispenser
  4. third-person singular present subjunctive of dispenser
  5. second-person singular imperative of dispenser

Further reading

Anagrams

Italian

Noun

dispense f

  1. plural of dispensa

Verb

dispense

  1. third-person singular past historic of dispegnere

Anagrams

Portuguese

Verb

dispense

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of dispensar
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of dispensar
  3. first-person singular imperative of dispensar
  4. third-person singular imperative of dispensar

Spanish

Verb

dispense

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of dispensar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of dispensar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of dispensar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of dispensar.
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