different between propulsion vs launch

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin propulsio, propulsionis, from the past participle of Latin propello (“to drive forward, drive forth, drive away, drive out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???p?l??n/

Noun

propulsion (countable and uncountable, plural propulsions)

1. The action of driving or pushing, typically forward or onward; a propulsive force or impulse.

Related terms

• propel

Translations

Further reading

• propulsion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin propulsio, propulsionem, from Latin propulsus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.pyl.sj??/

Noun

propulsion f (plural propulsions)

1. propulsion

Related terms

• propulser
• propulsif

Further reading

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

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