dispensary

[dih-spen-suh-ree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dispensary ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural dis·pen·sa·ries.

a place where something is dispensed, especially medicines.

a charitable or public facility where medicines are furnished and free or inexpensive medical advice is available.

Origin of dispensary

1690–1700; < Medieval Latin dispēnsāria storeroom, equivalent to Latin dispēns(āre) to dispense + -āria -ary

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for dispensary

box, counter, pew, hut, stall, corner, cubicle, hospital, sickroom, berth, coop, repository, shed, nook, pen, hutch, stand, cubbyhole, compartment, cote

Examples from the Web for dispensary

Contemporary Examples of dispensary

This year, the dispensary is launching its sale on Thanksgiving, carrying over into Black Friday.
Colorado Weed Dispensaries Celebrate ‘Green Friday’
Abby Haglage
November 28, 2014
Thus far, the most talked-about Green Friday hotspot is Denver dispensary the Grass Station.
Colorado Weed Dispensaries Celebrate ‘Green Friday’
Abby Haglage
November 28, 2014
Few applicants had a location nailed down to accommodate their indoor cultivation and dispensary needs.
Weed Cops Blaze New Trail
Valerie Vande Panne
March 4, 2014
But the dispensary business is built on fictions that make it almost inherently non-law-abiding.
Tax Cuts for Pot Law-Breakers?
David Frum
September 13, 2013

Historical Examples of dispensary

At present there is no dispensary on the island but there are a number of "blind tigers."
The Negro Farmer
Carl Kelsey
There was no mill there then, nor a school-house, no, nor a dispensary either!
The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II)
Charles James Lever
Its influence also was strongly used against a Dispensary Bill.
The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV
Various
Lower on the hillside they had built a dispensary and hospital.
In the Forbidden Land
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
Then I conveyed him by easy stages to Gunji, where I have a dispensary, and attended to him.
In the Forbidden Land
Arnold Henry Savage Landor

British Dictionary definitions for dispensary

dispensary

noun plural -ries

a place where medicine and medical supplies are dispensed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dispensary

"place for weighing out medicines," 1690s, from Medieval Latin dispensarius "one who dispenses," from Latin dispensare (see dispense).

dispensary in Medicine

dispensary

[dĭ-spĕn′sə-rē]

n.

An office in a hospital or other institution from which medical supplies and medicines are dispensed.

A public institution that dispenses medicines or medical aid.

An outpatient department of a hospital.