different between launch vs direct

English

Alternative forms

• lanch (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: lônch, IPA^(key): /l??nt??/
• (some accents) enPR: länch, IPA^(key): /l??nt??/
• (US) enPR: lônch, IPA^(key): /l?nt??/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /l?nt??/, /l?nt??/
• Rhymes: -??nt?

Etymology 1

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.

Verb

launch (third-person singular simple present launches, present participle launching, simple past and past participle launched or (obsolete) launcht)

1. (transitive) To throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.
   • 2011, Stephen Budiansky, Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815, page 323

     There they were met by four thousand Ha'apa'a warriors, who launched a volley of stones and spears […]

2. (transitive, obsolete) To pierce with, or as with, a lance.

   Synonyms: lance, pierce

   • 1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses

     And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds.

3. (transitive) 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.

   • 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.

4. (transitive) To cause (a rocket, balloon, etc., or the payload thereof) to begin its flight upward from the ground.
   • 1978, Farooq Hussain, "Volksraketen for the Third World" in New Scientist

     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 reminiscent of the height of colonialism in Africa.

5. (transitive) To send out; to start (someone) on a mission or project; to give a start to (something); to put in operation
   • 1649, Eikon Basilike

     All art is u?ed to ?ink Epi?copacy, & lanch Presbytery in England.
6. (transitive, computing) To start (a program or feature); to execute or bring into operation.

7. (transitive) To release; to put onto the market for sale
8. (intransitive) Of a ship, rocket, balloon, etc.: to depart on a voyage; to take off.
9. (intransitive, often with out) To move with force and swiftness like a sliding from the stocks into the water; to plunge; to begin.
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon: On the Vanity of the World, Preface

     In our language, Spen?er has not contented him?elf with this ?ubmi??ive manner of imitation : he launches out into very flowery paths […]

   • 1969, Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, ch. 23:

     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.

10. (intransitive, computing, of a program) To start to operate.

Translations

Noun

launch (plural launches)

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.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• book launch
• launching (as a noun)
• pre-launch

Related terms

• launching ways

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Noun

launch (plural launches)

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

Derived terms

• captain’s launch

Translations

See also

• barge
• boat
• ship’s boat
• yacht

References

Anagrams

• chulan, nuchal

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?rectus, perfect passive participle of d?rig? (“straighten, direct”), from dis- (“asunder, in pieces, apart, in two”) + reg? (“make straight, rule”). Compare dress.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d(a)????kt/, /d????kt/, /da??????kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt
• Hyphenation: di?rect

Adjective

direct (comparative more direct, superlative most direct)

1. Proceeding without deviation or interruption.
2. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end.

3. Straightforward; sincere.
4. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.

   • He nowhere, that I know, says it in direct words.

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     a direct and avowed interference with elections

5. In the line of descent; not collateral.

6. (astronomy) In the direction of the general planetary motion, or from west to east; in the order of the signs; not retrograde; said of the motion of a celestial body.
7. (political science) Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates.

8. (aviation, travel) having a single flight number.

Synonyms

• (proceeding uninterrupted): immediate
• (express, plain, unambiguous): explicit, patent, univocal; see also Thesaurus:explicit

Antonyms

• indirect

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

direct (comparative more direct, superlative most direct)

1. Directly.
   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, p. 346:

     Presumably Mary is to carry messages that she, Anne, is too delicate to convey direct.

Verb

direct (third-person singular simple present directs, present participle directing, simple past and past participle directed)

1. To manage, control, steer.

   to direct the affairs of a nation or the movements of an army

2. To aim (something) at (something else).

   They directed their fire towards the men on the wall.

   He directed his question to the room in general.

3. To point out or show to (somebody) the right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way.

   He directed me to the left-hand road.

   • 1882, John Lubbock, Flowers, Fruits and Leaves

     the next points to which I will direct your attention

4. To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.

   She directed them to leave immediately.
5. (dated) To put a direction or address upon; to mark with the name and residence of the person to whom anything is sent.

   to direct a letter

Derived terms

• co-direct, codirect
• misdirect
• redirect

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Credit, credit, triced

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French direct, from Latin d?r?ctus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di?r?kt/
• Hyphenation: di?rect
• Rhymes: -?kt

Adjective

direct (comparative directer, superlative directst)

1. direct, immediate
2. direct, blunt, frank

Inflection

Adverb

direct

1. immediately

Synonyms

• onmiddellijk
• meteen
• rechtstreeks

Derived terms

• drek

Descendants

• Afrikaans: direk
• ? Papiamentu: dirèkt

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di.??kt/
• Homophones: directe, directes, directs

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin d?rectus. Doublet of droit, which was inherited.

Adjective

direct (feminine singular directe, masculine plural directs, feminine plural directes)

1. direct

Etymology 2

From directement.

Adverb

direct

1. (colloquial) directly

   Si t'as pas envie d'y aller, dis-le direct.

   • 'If you don't want to go, say it straight up.'

Derived terms

Related terms

• diriger
• directeur
• direction

See also

• droit

Anagrams

• crédit
• décrit
• dicter

Further reading

• “direct” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?rectus, perfect passive participle of d?rig?, d?rigere (“straighten, direct”). Compare the inherited drait, drouait.

Adjective

direct m

1. (Jersey) direct

Derived terms

• directément (“directly”)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French direct, Latin directus. Compare the inherited doublet drept.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /di?rekt/

Adjective

direct m or n (feminine singular direct?, masculine plural direc?i, feminine and neuter plural directe)

1. direct
2. head-on

Declension

Adverb

direct

1. directly
2. straight