launch Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a motorboat with an open deck or a half deck
  2. noun the act of propelling with force
    launching.
  3. verb set up or found
    found; establish; set up.
    • She set up a literacy program
  4. verb propel with force
    • launch the space shuttle
    • Launch a ship
  5. verb launch for the first time; launch on a maiden voyage
    • launch a ship
  6. verb begin with vigor
    plunge.
    • He launched into a long diatribe
    • She plunged into a dangerous adventure
  7. verb get going; give impetus to
    set in motion.
    • launch a career
    • Her actions set in motion a complicated judicial process
  8. verb smoothen the surface of
    • launch plaster

WordNet

Launch intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. launchen to throw as a lance, OF. lanchier, another form of lancier, F. lancer, fr. lance lance. See Lance.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Launched ; present participle & verbal noun Launching
Definitions
  1. To throw, as a lance or dart; to hurl; to let fly.
  2. To strike with, or as with, a lance; to pierce. Obs.
    Launch your hearts with lamentable wounds. Spenser.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
Launch intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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. 4.
    He [Spenser] launches out into very flowery paths. Prior.
Launch noun
Definitions
  1. The act of launching.
  2. The movement of a vessel from land into the water; especially, the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built.
  3. 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.

Webster 1913