launch
Forms
- present (v1)
- launch
- past (v2)
- launched
- past participle (v3)
- launched
- present participle
- launching
- 3rd person singular
- launches
- Plural
- launches
Definitions
1.To throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.
2.To cause (a vessel) to move or slide from the land or a larger vessel into the water; to set afloat.
- Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
- The navy launched another ship.
3.To cause (a rocket, balloon, etc., or the payload thereof) to begin its flight upward from the ground.
- NASA launched several unmanned rockets before launching any of the Mercury astronauts.
4.To send out; to start (someone) on a mission or project; to give a start to (something); to put in operation
- Our business launched a new project.
- In mid-December 1944, the Germans launched a massive assault in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
- Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.
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.
4.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".
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1747
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
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.