launch

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.)

Noun

  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.).
    • Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free...
    • The initial awards will give $316 million to SpaceX for one launch and $337 million to ULA for two launches. […] Military officials did not say exactly how many launches that might enetail^([sic]), nor did they provide...
  3. An event held to celebrate the launch of a ship/vessel, project, a new book, etc.; a launch party.
    • product launch
    • book launch

Origin

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.

Forms

launches lanch

Hyponyms

cold launch hard launch hot launch soft launch

Related

launching ways

Derived

book launch launch angle launch complex launch game launching launch loop launch lug launch pad launch time launch vehicle launch window paper launch pre-launch

Noun nautical, transport

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

Origin

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

Forms

launches lanch

Related

barge boat ship’s boat yacht

Derived

captain's launch

Verb

  1. To throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.
    • There they were met by four thousand Ha'apa'a warriors, who launched a volley of stones and spears[…] - 2011, Stephen Budiansky, Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815, page 323:

    Synonyms: fling hurl bung cast chuck chunk cook dash dump feck jerk heave hield hoy huck hurtle launch lob peck peg pick pitch precipitate project

  2. To pierce with, or as with, a lance.
    • And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds. - 1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses:

    Synonyms: lance pierce

  3. 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. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 5:4:
    • 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.
    • The navy launched another ship.
  4. To cause (a rocket, balloon, etc., or the payload thereof) to begin its flight upward from the ground.
    • A cheap rocket that could launch military reconnaisance satellites for developing countries has become involved in a tangled web of Nazi rocket scientists, Penthouse magazine, KGB disinformation, and a treaty...
    • NASA launched several unmanned rockets before launching any of the Mercury astronauts.
  5. 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.
    • All art is uſed to ſink Epiſcopacy, & lanch Presbytery in England. - 1649, Eikon Basilike:
    • Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence. - 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New...
  6. To start (a program or feature); to execute or bring into operation.
    • Double-click an icon to launch the associated application.
    • If the game does not automatically launch, select Disney Cory in the House from the DS launch screen. - 2008, “Getting Started”, in Cory in the House: Instruction Booklet, Burbank, California: Disney Interactive...
  7. To release; to put onto the market for sale
    • On September 3rd Bionym, a Canadian firm, launched Nymi, a bracelet which detects the wearer’s heartbeat. - 2013 September 7, “Kill or cure”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:
  8. Of a ship, rocket, balloon, etc.: to depart on a voyage; to take off.
  9. To move with force and swiftness like a sliding from the stocks into the water; to plunge; to begin.
    • In our language, Spenſer has not contented himſelf with this ſubmiſſive manner of imitation : he launches out into very flowery paths[…] - 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon: On the Vanity of the World, Preface:
    • My class was wearing butter-yellow pique dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing puckers, then shirred the rest of the bodice. - 1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 23, in I Know...
    • to launch into an argument or discussion
  10. To start to operate.
    • After clicking the icon, the application will launch.

Forms

launches launching launched launcht lanch

Derived

air-launch autolaunch failure to launch hard-launch launchable launchee launcher launch forth launchful launch into launch lunch launch one's lunch launchway mislaunch outlaunch overlaunch postlaunch prelaunch relaunch soft-launch unlaunch unlaunched