DISPENSE

administer, dispense

(verb) give or apply (medications)

distribute, administer, mete out, deal, parcel out, lot, dispense, shell out, deal out, dish out, allot, dole out

(verb) administer or bestow, as in small portions; “administer critical remarks to everyone present”; “dole out some money”; “shell out pocket money for the children”; “deal a blow to someone”; “the machine dispenses soft drinks”

dispense

(verb) grant a dispensation; grant an exemption; “I was dispensed from this terrible task”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

dispense (third-person singular simple present dispenses, present participle dispensing, simple past and past participle dispensed)

To issue, distribute, or give out.

To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.

To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.

(obsolete) To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.

(intransitive, obsolete) To compensate; to make up; to make amends.

Noun

dispense (countable and uncountable, plural dispenses)

(obsolete) Cost, expenditure.

(obsolete) The act of dispensing, dispensation.

Anagrams

• despines, piedness

Source: Wiktionary


Dis*pense", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dispensed; p. pr. & vb. n. Dispensing.] Etym: [F. dispenser, L. dispensare, intens. of dispendere. See Dispend.]

1. To deal out in portions; to distribute; to give; as, the steward dispenses provisions according directions; Nature dispenses her bounties; to dispense medicines. He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company. Sir W. Scott.

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. Dryden.

3. To pay for; to atone for. [Obs.] His sin was dispensed With gold, whereof it was compensed. Gower.

4. To exempt; to excuse; to absolve; -- with from. It was resolved that all members of the House who held commissions, should be dispensed from parliamentary attendance. Macaulay. He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself. Johnson.

Dis*pense", v. i.

1. To compensate; to make up; to make amends. [Obs.] One loving hour For many years of sorrow can dispense. Spenser.

2. To give dispensation. He [the pope] can also dispense in all matters of ecclesiastical law. Addis & Arnold (Cath. Dict. ) To dispense with. (a) To permit the neglect or omission of, as a form, a ceremony, an oath; to suspend the operation of, as a law; to give up, release, or do without, as services, attention, etc.; to forego; to part with. (b) To allow by dispensation; to excuse; to exempt; to grant dispensation to or for. [Obs.] "Conniving and dispensing with open and common adultery." Milton. (c) To break or go back from, as one's word. [Obs.] Richardson.

Dis*pense", n. Etym: [Cf. F. dispense dispensation. See Dispense, v. t.]

Definition: Dispensation; exemption. [Obs.]

Dis*pense", n. Etym: [OF. despense, F. dépense.]

Definition: Expense; profusion; outlay. [Obs.] It was a vault built for great dispense. Spenser.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

3 July 2025

SENSE

(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; “in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the largest iced coffee is 14,228.1 liters and was created by Caffé Bene (South Korea), in Yangju, South Korea, on 17 July 2014. They poured iced black Americano on the giant cup that measured 3.3 meters tall and 2.62 meters wide.

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