different between dispatch vs hearsay

English

Alternative forms

• despatch (UK, Australia)

Etymology

From Spanish despachar or Italian dispacciare, replacing alternate reflex depeach, which is from French dépêcher. The first known use in writing (in the past tense, spelled as dispached) is by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall in 1517. This would be unusually early for a borrowing from a Romance language other than French, but Tunstall had studied in Italy and was Commissioner to Spain, so this word may have been borrowed through diplomatic circles. The alternative spelling despatch was introduced in Samuel Johnson's dictionary, probably by accident.

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /d??spæt?/
• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /d??spæt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?

Verb

dispatch (third-person singular simple present dispatches, present participle dispatching, simple past and past participle dispatched)

1. (transitive) To send (a shipment) with promptness.
2. (transitive) To send (a person) away hastily.
3. (transitive) To send (an important official message) promptly, by means of a diplomat or military officer.
4. (transitive) To send (a journalist) to a place in order to report.
5. (transitive) To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform.
6. (transitive) To rid; to free.
7. (transitive) To destroy quickly and efficiently.
8. (transitive, computing) To pass on for further processing, especially via a dispatch table (often with to).
9. (intransitive, obsolete) To hurry.
10. (transitive, obsolete) To deprive.

Synonyms

• destroy
• kill
• make haste
• send

Hyponyms

Related terms

• dispatch table
• happy dispatch

Translations

Noun

dispatch (countable and uncountable, plural dispatches)

1. A message sent quickly, as a shipment, a prompt settlement of a business, or an important official message sent by a diplomat, or military officer.
2. The act of doing something quickly.

   Synonyms: haste, hurry, rapidity

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
3. A mission by an emergency response service, typically attend to an emergency in the field.
4. (computing) The passing on of a message for further processing, especially via a dispatch table.
5. (obsolete) A dismissal.

Translations

Derived terms

• dispatcher
• dispatch case
• dispatch table

English

Etymology

From Middle English hyere-zigginge (1340), here sey (ca. 1438), from the phrase heren seien (“to hear [people] say”). Compare equally old Middle High German hœrsagen (14th c.), whence modern Hörensagen.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: hear?say

Noun

hearsay (usually uncountable, plural hearsays)

1. Information that was heard by one person about another that cannot be adequately substantiated.
2. (law) Evidence based on the reports of others, which is normally inadmissible because it was not made under oath, rather than on personal knowledge.
3. (law) An out-of-court statement offered in court for the truth of the matter asserted, which is normally inadmissible because it is not subject to cross-examination unless the hearsay statement falls under one of a number of exceptions.

Derived terms

• double hearsay

Synonyms

• common talk
• gossip
• report
• rumor

Translations

See also

• as they say
• hear
• hear tell
• so they say
• you know what they say

Further reading

• hearsay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• hearsay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.