despatch

noun

1. (alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable)Alternative form of dispatch.

   “The courier, bearing his despatches in the form of a hieroglyphical painting, ran with them to the first station,[…].”

   “Eldridge closed the despatch-case with a snap and, rising briskly, walked down the corridor to his solitary table in the dining-car.”

   “There are special rooms where mail can be stored and stacked ready for despatch and accommodation with cooking facilities for T.P.O. crews who change from one mail train to another at Tamworth.”

verb

1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of dispatch.

   “1833, Massachusetts Medical Society, New England Surgical Society, Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Volumes 8-9, page 31, She fainted, was got into bed, and a messenger was despatched for me.”

   “There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.[…]Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching telegrams.”

   “The countryside through which the line passes grows some beet, too. Ten wagonloads a day are despatched from Fethard and smaller quantities from Farranaleen, Laffan's Bridge and Horse & Jockey.”

   “The machines can automatically take account of late running of trains and, if it exceeds a pre-determined amount, can despatch a train out of turn.”

   “The amount of coal despatched in the Western Region is about 24,000,000 tons a year, nearly all from South Wales, though the Region includes the Forest of Dean, N. Somerset, and part of the N. Wales coalfields.”