Search the Dictionary

A person dispatched before another person or company, to give notice of his or their approach.

An advice boat, or dispatch boat.

To rouse from sleep or torpor; to awake; to wake. [He] is dispatched Already to awaken whom thou nam'st. Cowper. Their consciences are thoroughly awakened. Tillotson.

y. -- Bald coot (Zoöl.), a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.

Obs.] She stained her hair yellow, which was then the beauty. Jer. Taylor. Beauty spot, a patch or spot placed on the face with intent to heighten beauty by contrast.

A botch; a patch. [Dial.] Whitlock.

A patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner.

One who mends or patches, esp. a tailor or cobbler. Shak.

float intended to support persons who have fallen into the water, until a boat can be dispatched to save them. -- Nut or Nun buoy, a buoy large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end. -- To stream the buoy, to let the anchor buoy fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor…

ty, or mission. The daughter of the King of France, On serious business, craving quick despatch, Importunes personal conference. Shak. What business has the tortoise among the clouds L'Estrange.

nce of, calico; -- often applied to an animal, as a horse or cat, on whose body are large patches of a color strikingly different from its main color. [Colloq. U. S.]

Inlaid between partitions: -- said of enamel when the lines which divide the different patches of fields are composed of a kind of metal wire secured to the ground; as distinguished from champlevé enamel, in which the ground is engraved or scooped out to receive the enamel. S. Wells Williams.

A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag. His garments, nought but many ragged clouts, With thorns together pinned and patched was. Spenser. A clout upon that head where late the diadem stood. Shak.

To make or mend coarsely; to patch; to botch; as, to cobble shoes. Shak. "A cobbled saddle." Thackeray.

w; -- said of any bearing; or, in the case of a bearing having curved lines, divided into patches of alternate colors following the curve. If there are two rows it is called counter-compony.

ne who comprehends; one who has attained to a full knowledge. [Obs.] When I shall have dispatched this weary pilgrimage, and from a traveler shall come to be a comprehensor, farewell faith and welcome vision. Bp. Hall.

A patching together; patchwork. [Obs.] Bailey.

One of the patches of villi found in some forms of placenta.

A messenger sent with haste to convey letters or dispatches, usually on public busuness. The wary Bassa . . . by speedy couriers, advertised Solyman of the enemy's purpose. Knolles.

cover, in an envelope, or within a letter; -- said of a written message. Letters . . . dispatched under cover to her ladyship. Thackeray.