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Reach vs Launch - What's the difference?

reach | launch |

As an acronym reach

is .

As a verb launch is

to throw, as a lance or dart; to hurl; to let fly; to send off, propel with force.

As a noun launch is

the act of launching or launch can be (nautical) the boat of the largest size and/or of most importance belonging to a ship of war, and often called the "captain's boat" or "captain's launch".

reach

English

Verb

(es)
  • To extend; to stretch; to thrust out; to put forth, as a limb, a member, something held, or the like.
  • Hence, to deliver by stretching out a member, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another; to hand over.
  • To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some part of the body, or something held by one, so as to touch, strike, grasp, etc.
  • To strike or touch with a missile.
  • Hence, to extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut, as far as.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.}}
  • To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.
  • * Milton
  • Thy desire leads to no excess / That reaches blame.
  • To arrive at by effort of any kind; to attain to; to gain; to be advanced to.
  • * Cheyne
  • The best account of the appearances of nature which human penetration can reach , comes short of its reality.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,
  • (obsolete) To understand; to comprehend.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Do what, sir? I reach you not.
  • (obsolete) To overreach; to deceive.
  • (South)
  • To stretch out the hand.
  • To strain after something; to make efforts.
  • To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously ((past), (beyond), (above), (from) etc. something).
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 4:
  • The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.
  • (nautical) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
  • Usage notes

    * In the past, raught'', ''rought'' and ''retcht could be found as past tense forms; these are now obsolete, except perhaps in some dialects.

    Derived terms

    * far-reaching * forereach * outreach * overreach * reachable * reach an early grave * reach for the stars * rereach *

    Noun

    (es)
  • The act of stretching or extending; extension; power of reaching or touching with the person, or a limb, or something held or thrown.
  • The fruit is beyond my reach .
    to be within reach of cannon shot
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VI
  • and we have learned not to fire at any of the dinosaurs unless we can keep out of their reach for at least two minutes after hitting them in the brain or spine, or five minutes after puncturing their hearts—it takes them so long to die.
  • The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.
  • * Hayward
  • Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.
  • Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.
  • * Milton
  • And on the left hand, hell, / With long reach , interposed.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I am to pray you not to strain my speech / To grosser issues, nor to larger reach / Than to suspicion.
  • (informal) An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.
  • To call George eloquent is certainly a reach .
  • (boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
  • An extended portion of land or water; a stretch; a straight portion of a stream or river, as from one turn to another; a level stretch, as between locks in a canal; an arm of the sea extending up into the land.
  • * Tennyson
  • The river's wooded reach .
  • * Holland
  • The coast is very full of creeks and reaches .
  • (nautical) Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
  • (obsolete) An article to obtain an advantage.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own underhand to cross the design.
  • The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.
  • An effort to vomit; a retching.
  • Derived terms

    * arm's reach * beam reach * boardinghouse reach * broad reach * dry reach * earreach * eyereach * gunreach * reach-around * reachless

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    launch

    English

    Alternative forms

    * lanch (obsolete)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) /Norman variant, compare Jèrriais lanchi ) of lancier, French lancer, from lance.

    Verb

    (es)
  • To throw, as a lance or dart; to hurl; to let fly; to send off, propel with force.
  • * 2011 , Stephen Budiansky, Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815 , page 323
  • There they were met by four thousand Ha'apa'a warriors, who launched a volley of stones and spears
  • (obsolete) To pierce with, or as with, a lance.
  • * 1591 , (Edmund Spenser), The Teares of the Muses
  • And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds.
  • To cause to move or slide from the land 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.
  • * 1725–1726 , (Alexander Pope), Homer's Odyssey (translation), Book V
  • With stays and cordage last he rigged the ship, / And rolled on levers, launched her in the deep.
  • To send out; to start (one) on a career; to set going; to give a start to (something); to put in operation.
  • * 1649 , (Eikon Basilike)
  • All art is u?ed to ?ink Epi?copacy, & lanch Presbytery in England .
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.}}
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-07, volume=408, issue=8852, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Kill or cure , passage=On September 3rd Bionym, a Canadian firm, launched Nymi, a bracelet which detects the wearer’s heartbeat.}}
  • (often with out) To move with force and swiftness like a sliding from the stocks into the water; to plunge; to make a beginning.
  • * 1718 , (Matthew Prior), Solomon: On the Vanity of the World , Preface
  • In our language, Spen?er has not contented him?elf with this ?ubmi??ive manner of imitation : he launches out into very flowery paths
  • * 1969 , (Maya Angelou), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , ch. 23:
  • My class was wearing butter-yellow pique dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing puckers, then shirred the rest of the bodice.
    Synonyms
    * (to pierce) lance, pierce

    Noun

    (es)
  • The act of launching.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • The movement of a vessel from land into the water; especially, the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built. (Compare: to splash a ship.)
  • Derived terms
    * launching (as a noun) * launching ways

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (es)
  • (nautical) The boat of the largest size and/or of most importance belonging to a ship of war, and often called the "captain's boat" or "captain's launch".
  • (nautical) A boat used to convey guests to and from a yaucht.
  • (nautical) An open boat of any size powered by steam, naphtha, electricity, or the like. (Compare Spanish lancha .)
  • Derived terms
    *

    See also

    * barge * boat * * yacht

    Anagrams

    *