Dictionary

dispense en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /dɪˈspens/ (Australia)
• (California) audio
• /dɪˈspɛns/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French dispenser, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to weigh out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weigh out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).

Meanings

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Cost, expenditure.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The act of dispensing, dispensation.
   • […] what euer in this worldly state / Is sweet, and pleasing vnto liuing sense, / Or that may dayntiest fantasie aggrate, / Was poured forth with plentifull dispence […] 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

dispensatory · dispensation · dispensable · dispensative

Relateds

dispend

Translations (2)

de Ausgabe (cost, expenditure) · de Kosten (cost, expenditure)

dispense en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /dɪˈspens/ (Australia)
• (California) audio
• /dɪˈspɛns/ (Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French dispenser, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to weigh out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weigh out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).

Meanings

1. To issue, distribute, or give out.
   • The smoky spray seemed to trap whatever light there was and to dispense it subtly. 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 40:
   • He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company. 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
2. To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
   • While you dispense the laws, and guide the state. 1662, John Dryden, To the Lord Chancellor Hyde:
   • to dispense justice
3. To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.
   • The pharmacist dispensed my tablets.
   • An optician can dispense spectacles.
4. (qualifier:particularly in canon law) To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.
   • She was dispensed from her vows and married Captain von Trapp.
   • It was resolved that all members of the House who held commissions, should be dispensed from parliamentary attendance. 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
   • Of evils the first and greatest is, that hereby a most absurd and rash imputation is fixt upon God and his holy Laws, of conniving and dispensing with open and common adultery among his chosen people; a thing which the rankest politician would think it shame and disworship, that his Laws should countenance; how and in what manner this comes to passe, I shall reserve, till the course of method brings on the unfolding of many Scriptures. 1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce:
   • 1779–81, Samuel Johnson, "Richard Savage" in Lives of the Most Eminent English Poet He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself.
   • After his victories, he often gave them the reines to all licenciousnesse, for a while dispencing them from all rules of military discipline[…]. 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 34, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
   • Every spring, the passive aggressive archbishop suffered from a brief flu that dispensed him from needing to provide Easter service to the king.
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To compensate; to make up; to make amends.
   • His synne was dispensed with golde, wherof it was compensed c. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, →OCLC:
   • One loving howre / For many yeares of sorrow can dispence 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:

Forms

Deriveds

dispensement · dispensome · dispensability · predispensed · dispense with · undispensed · misdispense · redispense · dispensable · dispenser · dispensary · nanodispense

Translations (67)

fr émettre (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi johtaa (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · sv förskriva (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · fr doser (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · es administrar (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · sv utdela (to issue, distribute, or give out) · de wiedergutmachen (''(obsolete in English)'' to compensate; to make up; to make amends) · nl uitdelen (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi hallita (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · tr dağıtmak (to issue, distribute, or give out) · nl toepassen (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · hu adagol (to issue, distribute, or give out) · nl compenseren (''(obsolete in English)'' to compensate; to make up; to make amends) · fi jakaa (to issue, distribute, or give out) · de verteilen (to issue, distribute, or give out) · nl verdelen (to issue, distribute, or give out) · nl verstrekken (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi korvata (''(obsolete in English)'' to compensate; to make up; to make amends) · tr ilaç hazırlamak (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · hu kiad (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · hu szétoszt (to issue, distribute, or give out) · de ausstellen (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · fr distribuer (to issue, distribute, or give out) · sv skriva ut (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · hu kioszt (to issue, distribute, or give out) · sv utge (to issue, distribute, or give out) · hu elkészít (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · hu kiszolgáltat (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · sv dela ut (to issue, distribute, or give out) · hu szolgáltat (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · fr dispenser (to issue, distribute, or give out) · hu felad (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · fr dispenser (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · sv fördela (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fr préparer (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · de dosieren (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · de entschuldigen (''(obsolete in English)'' to give a dispensation to someone; to excuse) · es dispensar (''(obsolete in English)'' to give a dispensation to someone; to excuse) · hu felment (''(obsolete in English)'' to give a dispensation to someone; to excuse) · hu eloszt (to issue, distribute, or give out) · hu oszt (to issue, distribute, or give out) · tr tevzi etmek (to issue, distribute, or give out) · mi tuari (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi vapauttaa (''(obsolete in English)'' to give a dispensation to someone; to excuse) · sv förmedla (to issue, distribute, or give out) · hu kiad (to issue, distribute, or give out) · sv ge ut (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi määrätä (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · fi antaa (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · fr partager (to issue, distribute, or give out) · hu kiadagol (to issue, distribute, or give out) · de ausgeben (to issue, distribute, or give out) · nl uitvoeren (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · sv dosera (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi palkita (''(obsolete in English)'' to compensate; to make up; to make amends) · nl doseren (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · fi hyvittää (''(obsolete in English)'' to compensate; to make up; to make amends) · bg раздавам (to issue, distribute, or give out) · fi annostella (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · fi jakaa (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct) · de austeilen (to issue, distribute, or give out) · tr vermek (to issue, distribute, or give out) · sv utminutera (to issue, distribute, or give out) · nl uitgeven (to issue, distribute, or give out) · es dispensar (to supply or make up a medicine or prescription) · bg разпределям (to issue, distribute, or give out) · es impartir (to apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct)