different between sling vs launch

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English slynge (noun), slyngen (verb), probably from Old Norse slyngja, slyngva (“to hurl”), from Proto-Germanic *slingwan? (“to worm, twist”) or compare Old English slingan (“to wind, twist”), from the same source.

Compare German schlingen (“to swing, wind, twist”), Danish and Norwegian slynge), from Proto-Indo-European *slenk (“to turn, twist”) (compare Welsh llyngyr (“worms, maggots”), Lithuanian sliñkti (“to crawl like a snake”), Latvian slìkt (“to sink”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sl??/
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

sling (third-person singular simple present slings, present participle slinging, simple past and past participle slung or slang)

1. To throw with a circular or arcing motion.
   • 2000, Bible (World English), Judges xx. 16

     Everyone could sling stones at an hairbreadth, and not miss.
2. To throw with a sling.
3. (nautical) To pass a rope around (a cask, gun, etc.) preparatory to attaching a hoisting or lowering tackle.
4. (slang) To sell, peddle, or distribute illicitly (e.g. drugs, sex, etc.).
   • 2008, Breaking Bad, Season 1, Episode 6:

     You may know a lot about chemistry man but you don't know jack about slinging dope.

Derived terms

• undersling

Translations

Noun

sling (plural slings)

1. (weapon) An instrument for throwing stones or other missiles, consisting of a short strap with two strings fastened to its ends, or with a string fastened to one end and a light stick to the other.
2. A kind of hanging bandage put around the neck, in which a wounded arm or hand is supported.
3. A loop of cloth, worn around the neck, for supporting a baby or other such load.
4. A loop of rope, or a rope or chain with hooks, for suspending a barrel, bale, or other heavy object, in hoisting or lowering.
5. A strap attached to a firearm, for suspending it from the shoulder.
6. (nautical, chiefly in the plural) A band of rope or iron for securing a yard to a mast.
7. The act or motion of hurling as with a sling; a throw; figuratively, a stroke.
8. (climbing) A loop of rope or fabric tape used for various purposes: e.g. as part of a runner, or providing extra protection when abseiling or belaying.
9. A drink composed of a spirit (usually gin) and water sweetened.

   gin sling

   a Singapore sling

Derived terms

• ass in a sling
• gin sling
• Singapore sling
• slingshot
• slingstone
• staff sling

Translations

Etymology 2

From a shortening of spiderling.

Noun

sling (plural slings)

1. A young or infant spider, such as one raised in captivity.

Further reading

• Sling in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• -lings, Lings, lings

Middle English

Noun

sling

1. Alternative form of slynge

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