despachar

From Old Galician-Portuguese [Term?], borrowed from Old French despechier (compare modern dépêcher).

despachar (first-person singular present despacho, first-person singular preterite despachei, past participle despachado)

1. to dispatch, despatch
2. to expedite
3. (transitive, colloquial) to assassinate, to murder, to kill

   Synonyms: assassinar, matar

   • 1890, Aluizio Azevedo, O Cortiço, Rio de Janeiro: B. L. Garnier:

     Além disso, como?... Sim, como poderia despachá-la, sem deixar sinais comprometedores do crime?... Envenenando-a?... Dariam logo pela coisa! Matá-la a tiro?... Pior!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “despachar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “despachar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from Provençal despachar, from Old French despeechier (“to remove impediments”) (compare modern French dépêcher), from des- + empeechier (“to obstruct, to impede”), from Late Latin impedicāre (“to impede”), from pedica (“shackle”).

• IPA^(key): /despaˈt͡ʃaɾ/ [d̪es.paˈt͡ʃaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: des‧pa‧char

despachar (first-person singular present despacho, first-person singular preterite despaché, past participle despachado)

1. (transitive) to complete, conclude
2. (transitive) to send or ship
3. (transitive) to attend to, serve (a client)
4. (transitive) to dismiss

   Despacharon los estudiantes ― They dismissed the students

5. (transitive) to finish off
6. (transitive) to kill off

• “despachar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024