different between zeal vs dispatch

English

Etymology

From Middle English zele, from Old French zel, from Late Latin z?lus, from Ancient Greek ????? (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeh?- (“to search”). Related to jealous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /zi?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /zil/
• Rhymes: -i?l

Noun

zeal (countable and uncountable, plural zeals)

1. The fervour or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.

   Synonyms: ardour, eagerness, enthusiasm, intensity, passion

   Antonym: apathy

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Romans 10.2,^[1]

     […] I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

   • 1687, John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther, London: Jacob Tonson, Part 3, p. 96,^[2]

     Zeal, the blind conductor of the will

   • 1779, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part 12, pp. 143-144,^[3]

     […] the highest zeal in religion and the deepest hypocrisy, so far from being inconsistent, are often or commonly united in the same individual character.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, London: John Murray, Volume 1, Chapter 14, p. 250,^[4]

     [He] would begin admiring her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge as seemed terribly like a would-be lover,

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 15, p. 248,^[5]

     The stockman’s zeal for eliminating the coyote has resulted in plagues of field mice, which the coyote formerly controlled.

2. (obsolete) A person who exhibits such fervour or tireless devotion.

   Synonym: zealot

   • 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, London: Robert Allot, Act V, Scene 5, p. 85,^[6]

     […] like a malicious purblinde zeale as thou art!

   • 1642, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, London: Andrew Crooke, p. 5,^[7]

     […] there are questionlesse both in Greeke, Roman and Africa Churches, solemnities, and ceremonies, whereof the wiser zeales doe make a Christian use, and stand condemned by us;

3. The collective noun for a group of zebras.

   Synonyms: dazzle, herd

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Elza, laze, zale

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