disburse

From Old French desbourser (Modern French débourser). By surface analysis, dis- +‎ burse (“purse”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈbɝs/, [dɪsˈpɝs]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s
• Homophone: disperse

disburse (third-person singular simple present disburses, present participle disbursing, simple past and past participle disbursed)

1. (finance) To pay out, expend; usually from a public fund or treasury.
   • 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The consequent traffic is so grave that, last year, councils in England and Wales demanded that the government disburse £1bn a year to them so they could repair roads and tackle congestion.

• Do not confuse with disperse.

(to pay out): shell out (informal), cough up (informal), fork out (informal), fork over (informal)

• subsider