launching

Verb

launch (third-person singular simple present launches, present participle launching, simple past and past participle launched or (obsolete) launcht)

1. (transitive) To throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.
   • There they were met by four thousand Ha'apa'a warriors, who launched a volley of stones and spears[…]2011, Stephen Budiansky, Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815, page 323

   Synonyms:

   fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, chunk, cook, dash, dump, feck

2. (obsolete, transitive) To pierce with, or as with, a lance.
   • And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds.1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses

   Synonyms:

   lance, pierce

3. (transitive) To cause (a vessel) to move or slide from the land or a larger vessel into the water; to set afloat.
   • Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 5:4
4. (transitive) To cause (a rocket, balloon, etc., or the payload thereof) to begin its flight upward from the ground.
   • A cheap rocket that could launch military reconnaisance satellites for developing countries has become involved in a tangled web of Nazi rocket scientists, Penthouse magazine, KGB disinformation, and a treaty reminiscent of the height of colonialism in Africa.1978, Farooq Hussain, “Volksraketen for the Third World”, in New Scientist
5. (transitive) To send out; to start (someone) on a mission or project; to give a start to (something); to put in operation
   • Our business launched a new project.
6. (transitive) To start (a program or feature); to execute or bring into operation.
   • Double-click an icon to launch the associated application.

See all 16 meanings of launch