despachar

From Old Galician-Portuguese , borrowed from Old French despechier (compare modern dépêcher).

despachar (first-person singular present despacho, first-person singular preterite despachei, past participle despachado)

1. to dispatch, despatch
2. to expedite
3. (transitive, colloquial) to assassinate, to murder, to kill

   Synonyms: assassinar, matar

   • 1890, Aluísio Azevedo, O Cortiço, Rio de Janeiro: B. L. Garnier:

     Além disso, como?... Sim, como poderia despachá-la, sem deixar sinais comprometedores do crime?... Envenenando-a?... Dariam logo pela coisa! Matá-la a tiro?... Pior!

• “despachar”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024
• “despachar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Borrowed from Provençal despachar, from Old French despeechier (“to remove impediments”) (compare modern French dépêcher), from des- + empeechier (“to obstruct, to impede”), from Late Latin impedicāre (“to impede”), from pedica (“shackle”).

• IPA^(key): /despaˈt͡ʃaɾ/
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: des‧pa‧char

despachar (first-person singular present despacho, first-person singular preterite despaché, past participle despachado)

1. (transitive) to complete, conclude
2. (transitive) to send or ship
3. (transitive) to attend to, serve (a client)
4. (transitive) to dismiss

   Despacharon los estudiantes ― They dismissed the students

5. (transitive) to finish off
6. (transitive) to kill off

• “despachar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10