Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIS-PATCH', v.t. [Fr. depêcher; Sp. despachar; Port id; It. dispacciare; Arm. dibech, disbachat; In It. spacciare signifies to sell, put off, speed, dispatch; spaccio, sale, vent, dispatch, expedition. This word belongs to Class Bg, and the primary sense is to send, throw, thrust, drive, and this is the sense of pack, L. pango, pactus. Hence our vulgar phrases, to pack off, and to budge. The same word occurs in impeach.]

1. To send, or send away; particularly applied to the sending of messengers, agents and letters on special business, and often implying haste. The king dispatched an envoy to the court of Madrid. He dispatched a messenger to his envoy in France. He dispatched orders or letters to the commander of the forces in Spain. The president dispatched a special envoy to the court of St. James in 1794.
2. To send out of the world; to put to death. The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. – Ezek. xxiii.
3. To perform; to execute speedily; to finish; as, the business was dispatched in due time.