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Dispense vs Quantity - What's the difference?

dispense | quantity |

As a verb dispense

is .

As a noun quantity is

a fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.

dispense

English

Verb

  • To issue, distribute, or put out.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company.
  • * 1955 , William Golding, The Inheritors , Faber and Faber 2005, p.40:
  • The smoky spray seemed to trap whatever light there was and to dispense it subtly.
  • To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
  • to dispense justice
  • * Dryden
  • While you dispense the laws, and guide the state.
  • To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.
  • The pharmacist dispensed my tablets.
    An optician can dispense spectacles.
  • To eliminate or do without; used intransitively with with .
  • I wish he would dispense with the pleasantries and get to the point.
  • (obsolete) To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.
  • * , II.34:
  • After his victories, he often gave them the reines to all licenciousnesse, for a while dispencing them from all rules of military discipline.
  • * Macaulay
  • It was resolved that all members of the House who held commissions, should be dispensed from parliamentary attendance.
  • * Johnson
  • He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself.
  • (obsolete) To compensate; to make up; to make amends.
  • * Spenser
  • One loving hour / For many years of sorrow can dispense .
  • * Gower
  • His sin was dispensed / With gold, whereof it was compensed.

    Derived terms

    * dispensary * dispenser

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) Cost, expenditure.
  • (obsolete) The act of dispensing, dispensation.
  • * , II.xii:
  • what euer in this worldly state / Is sweet, and pleasing vnto liuing sense, / Or that may dayntiest fantasie aggrate, / Was poured forth with plentifull dispence [...].

    quantity

    Noun

    (quantities)
  • A fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.
  • You have to choose between quantity and quality.
  • An indefinite amount of something.
  • Some soap making oils are best as base oils, used in a larger quantity''' in the soap, while other oils are best added in a small '''quantity .
    Olive oil can be used practically in any quantity .
  • A specific measured amount.
  • This bag would normally costs $497.50 for a quantity of 250, at a price of $1.99 per piece.
    Generally it should not be used in a quantity larger than 15 percent.
  • A considerable measure or amount.
  • The Boeing P-26A was the first all-metal monoplane fighter produced in quantity for the U.S. Army Air Corps.
  • (metrology) Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed as number and a reference.
  • (mathematics) Indicates that the entire preceding expression is henceforth considered a single object.
  • x plus ''y'' quantity squared equals ''x'' squared plus ''2xy'' plus ''y'' squared .
  • * 2006 , Jerome E. Kaufmann and Karen Schwitters, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra: A Combined Approach , p 89
  • For problems 58-67, translate each word phrase into an algebraic expression.
    (...)
    65. x plus 9, the quantity squared
  • * 2005 , R. Mark Sirkin, Statistics For The Social Sciences , p137
  • The second, (\sum x)^2, read "summation of x, quantity squared," tells us to first add up all the xs to get \sum x and then square \sum x to get (\sum x)^2.
  • * 1985 , Serge Lang, Math!: Encounters with High School Students , p54
  • ANN. ra quantity cubed.
    SERGE LANG. That's right, (ra)^3.

    Usage notes

    * In mathematics, used to unambiguously orate mathematical equations; it is extremely rare in print, since there is no need for it there.

    Synonyms

    * Qty

    See also

    * measure * unit