launch

¹

[ lawnch, lahnch ]

verb (used with object)

1. to set (a boat or ship) in the water.
2. to float (a newly constructed boat or ship) usually by allowing to slide down inclined ways into the water.
3. to send forth, catapult, or release, as a self-propelled vehicle or weapon:

   Rockets were launched midway in the battle.

   The submarine launched its torpedoes and dived rapidly.

4. to start (a person) on a course, career, etc.
5. to set going; initiate:

   to launch a scheme.

   Synonyms: institute, inaugurate

6. to throw; hurl:

   to launch a spear.

7. to start (a new venture) or promote (a new product):

   They launched a new breakfast cereal.

8. Computers. to start (a software program).

verb (used without object)

1. to burst out or plunge boldly or directly into action, speech, etc.
2. to start out or forth; push out or put forth on the water.

noun

1. the act of launching.

launch

²

[ lawnch, lahnch ]

noun

1. a heavy open or half-decked boat propelled by oars or by an engine.
2. a large utility boat carried by a warship.

launch

¹

/ lɔːntʃ /

noun

1. a motor driven boat used chiefly as a transport boat
2. the largest of the boats of a man-of-war

launch

²

/ lɔːntʃ /

verb

1. to move (a vessel) into the water
2. to move (a newly built vessel) into the water for the first time
3. tr
   1. to start off or set in motion

      to launch a scheme

   2. to put (a new product) on the market
4. tr to propel with force
5. to involve (oneself) totally and enthusiastically

   to launch oneself into work

6. tr to set (a missile, spacecraft, etc) into motion
7. tr to catapult (an aircraft), as from the deck of an aircraft carrier
8. intrfoll byinto to start talking or writing (about)

   he launched into a story

9. intrusually foll byout to start (out) on a fresh course
10. informal.
    intrusually foll byout to spend a lot of money

noun

1. an act or instance of launching

Other Words From

• launcha·ble adjective
• un·launched adjective
• well-launched adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of launch¹

First recorded in 1300–50; late Middle English launche, from Anglo-French lancher, from Late Latin lanceāre “to wield a lance”; lance ¹

Origin of launch²

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Spanish, Portuguese lancha, earlier Portuguese lanchara, first attested in 1515 in an account of boats encountered near the Strait of Malacca; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Malay lancharan, derivative of lanchar “swift,” unless modern Malay lancha is from Portuguese

Word History and Origins

Origin of launch¹

C17: via Spanish lancha and Portuguese from Malay lancharan boat, from lanchar speed

Origin of launch²

C14: from Anglo-French lancher, from Late Latin lanceāre to use a lance, hence, to set in motion. See lance

Example Sentences

Russia launched an enormous ballistic missile strike on Dnipro overnight too.

From BBC

The Thomas family company was launched as Thomas Pies in the 1950s, selling sausage rolls, pies and pasties around the south Wales valleys.

From BBC

A teenager who launched an attack at a gurdwara in Kent has been detained in hospital.

From BBC

Defence Secretary John Healey has launched an investigation into whether there are long lost or hidden documents that reveal military chiefs secretly monitored the health of men who witnessed nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.

From BBC

A year on from the death of her 17-year-old son, Crystal Owen is launching a charity in his name that hopes to help his memory live on.

From BBC

Related Words

• commence
• inaugurate
• institute
• introduce
• open
• start

More About Launch

Where does launch come from?

Rocket ships and medieval knights wouldn’t seem like they have a lot in common. We launch rocket ships into outer space—something those old knights, trotting around on horseback and wielding their lances, could hardly have ever imagined.

Launch entered English around 1300–50. Back then, launch meant “to rush, spring (into motion), send forth, hurl (a weapon).” Launch comes from French, which in turn comes from Late Latin lanceāre, “to wield a lance.” This verb, lanceāre, is based on the Latin noun lancea, “lance, spear.” The Latin lancea may ultimately come from an ancient Celtic word.

As you’ve probably guessed, the Latin lancea is the ultimate source of the English lance, originally “a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, used as a weapon by knights and cavalry soldiers in charging.” Slightly older than the verb launch, lance entered English around 1250–1300.

Now, the Late Latin verb lanceāre also yields (through French) the English verb lance. Today, that verb is mainly used for actions of piercing and making incisions—much finer and more careful cuts, thankfully, than resulted from a knight’s lance. But in the early 1300s, lance was effectively a synonym for launch, also meaning “to throw or hurl.”

Dig deeper

When did we start saying we launched such things as boats? That sense of launch is so far first evidenced, as it happens, during the heydey of knights launching lances. This sense of launch, meaning “to a set (a boat or ship) in the water,” is recorded in the Alliterative Morte Arthure, a remarkable poem about that legendary leader of knights, King Arthur, dated to around 1400.

The basic, underlying sense of launch (“to send forth”) has inspired many other metaphorical extensions, from launching careers and launching products to book launches, campaign launches, and, by the time we entered the Space Age, rocket launches.

Did you know ... ?

Speaking of King Arthur, his greatest knight—and most notorious, thanks to his love affair with Queen Guinevere—was Lancelot. As legend has it, Lancelot was also one of the greatest jousters of his day. Jousters fight on horseback with lances. Is that how Lancelot got his name?

That Lancelot is spelled like lance appears to be the result of association, the name shaped into its form under the influence of French. The origin of the name Lancelot is obscure, but it is probably ultimately Celtic or Germanic. You might say that efforts to root Lancelot simply in lance have failed to … launch.