Dispense
[dɪ'spens] or [dɪ'spɛns]
Definition
(verb.) grant a dispensation; grant an exemption; 'I was dispensed from this terrible task'.
Inputed by Barnard--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To deal out in portions; to distribute; to give; as, the steward dispenses provisions according directions; Nature dispenses her bounties; to dispense medicines.
(v. t.) To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
(v. t.) To pay for; to atone for.
(v. t.) To exempt; to excuse; to absolve; -- with from.
(v. i.) To compensate; to make up; to make amends.
(v. i.) To give dispensation.
(v. t.) Dispensation; exemption.
(n.) Expense; profusion; outlay.
Editor: Ozzie
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Distribute, apportion, allot, deal out.[2]. Administer, apply, execute, carry out.
Edited by Hardy
Definition
v.t. to deal out in portions: to distribute: to administer: (Spens.) to pay for.—n. expense: profession: abundance.—adj. Dispensed′.—n. Dispens′er.—Dispense with to permit the want of: to do without.
Editor: Moll
Examples
- It was impossible for Monseigneur to dispense with one of these attendants on the chocolate and hold his high place under the admiring Heavens. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- I was so much better that I thought I could dispense with one. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- He hoped that with intelligent assistance I should meet with little to discourage me, and should soon be able to dispense with any aid but his. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- He had heard from my guardian of my having been called away on some uncommon business and said so to dispense with any explanation. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- One of the facts quickly rumored was that Lydgate did not dispense drugs. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- And will you consent to dispense with a great many conventional forms and phrases, without thinking that the omission arises from insolence? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- In all ordinary telegraph lines, advantage is taken of this fact to utilize the earth as a conductor and to dispense with one wire. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- I expressed myself much obliged to him, but did not think it necessary to add that I readily dispensed with this attention. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- I always showed him, for one, that I could have dispensed with his company with the greatest pleasure. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- But he, with a perfect stoicism, did without any before and after, dispensed with all illusion. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The shuttle was thus dispensed with, and an entirely new departure was made in the art. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- But any answer was dispensed with by the entrance of three gentlemen, with whom there were greetings more or less cordial. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Nor was it expected that human hands could be dispensed with in the cutting out of garments. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The rest of this eloquent epistle may be dispensed with. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- In 1882, however, a machine for doing this was invented, thereby dispensing with the old hand method and cheapening the operation. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- These and other kindred characteristics are proper to democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing equality to equals and unequals alike. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- It foresees the facility of borrowing, and therefore dispenses itself from the duty of saving. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Among the recent devices is one which dispenses with the expensive and skilful work by hand of drawing the warp threads into the eyes of the heddles and through the reed of the loom. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Indeed--indeed--when you were a mere boy I used to see both: far more then than now--for now you are strong, and strength dispenses with subtlety. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- This dispenses with auxiliary refrigerants, and causes the expanding gases to supply the cold required for their own liquefaction by an entirely mechanical process. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Editor: Nettie