The Collaborative International Dictionary
Dispatch \Dis*patch"\, n. [Cf. OF. despeche, F. d['e]p[^e]che. See Dispatch, v. t.] [Written also despatch.]
The act of sending a message or messenger in haste or on important business.
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Any sending away; dismissal; riddance.
To the utter dispatch of all their most beloved comforts.
--Milton. -
The finishing up of a business; speedy performance, as of business; prompt execution; diligence; haste.
Serious business, craving quick dispatch.
--Shak.To carry his scythe . . . with a sufficient dispatch through a sufficient space.
--Paley. A message dispatched or sent with speed; especially, an important official letter sent from one public officer to another; -- often used in the plural; as, a messenger has arrived with dispatches for the American minister; naval or military dispatches.
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A message transmitted by telegraph. [Modern]
Dispatch boat, a swift vessel for conveying dispatches; an advice boat.
Dispatch box, a box for carrying dispatches; a box for papers and other conveniences when traveling.
Syn: Haste; hurry; promptness; celerity; speed. See Haste.
Wikipedia
Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message was not possible or safe or as quick.
Dispatch boats, which performed their dispatch-carrying duties only on a temporary basis, should not be confused with packet ships—sometimes called packet boats or paquetbots—which were cargo ships which also routinely carried the mail from port to port.
Generally, dispatch boats served the military, and paquetbots served commerce.
Usage examples of "dispatch boat".
The high-speed courier the agent-in-charge in Nouveau Paris had chartered to get it to him as quickly as possible couldn't have beaten the normal news service dispatch boat by more than a few hours.
On the other hand, he supposed it did make sense to use his ship rather than risk hiring a commercially available dispatch boat and giving it the coordinates for Second Fleet's hiding place.
I sent off a dispatch boat to Haven as soon as we realized they were scouting the system.
But Haven was a six-month round trip away even for a dispatch boat, which meant the only real information Pierre or Saint-Just had was that which was carried to them aboard the neutral vessels still allowed through either junction to the People's Republic.
Were his recall orders already on board a dispatch boat en route to Spindle?
I have sent a dispatch boat ahead, but I was unable to send it off until I knew what my true schedule might be .
We'll keep you as closely informed as we can by dispatch boat, but the transit delay's going to make actual coordination impossible.
They were the smallest class of hyper-capable warship, with a tonnage which fell about midway between a dispatch boat and a destroyer, and that gave them precious little room to pack in weapons.
Of course, even for a dispatch boat, the transit time between here and Split is over seven days one-way, so it’.