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send-off

[send-awf, -of]
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noun
  1. a demonstration of good wishes for a person setting out on a trip, career, or other venture: They gave him a rousing send-off at the pier.
  2. a start given to a person or thing.
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Origin of send-off

1855–60, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase send off

send1

[send]
verb (used with object), sent, send·ing.
  1. to cause, permit, or enable to go: to send a messenger; They sent their son to college.
  2. to cause to be conveyed or transmitted to a destination: to send a letter.
  3. to order, direct, compel, or force to go: The president sent troops to Asia.
  4. to direct, propel, or deliver to a particular point, position, condition, or direction: to send a punch to the jaw; The punch sent the fighter reeling.
  5. to emit, discharge, or utter (usually followed by off, out, or through): The lion sent a roar through the jungle.
  6. to cause to occur or befall: The people beseeched Heaven to send peace to their war-torn village.
  7. Electricity.
    1. to transmit (a signal).
    2. to transmit (an electromagnetic wave or the like) in the form of pulses.
  8. Slang. to delight or excite: Frank Sinatra's records used to send her.
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verb (used without object), sent, send·ing.
  1. to dispatch a messenger, agent, message, etc.
  2. Electricity. to transmit a signal: The ship's radio sends on a special band of frequencies.
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Verb Phrases
  1. send down, British. to expel, especially from Oxford or Cambridge.
  2. send for, to request the coming or delivery of; summon: If her temperature goes up, send for the doctor.
  3. send forth,
    1. to produce; bear; yield: plants sending forth new leaves.
    2. to dispatch out of a country as an export.
    3. to issue, as a publication: They have sent forth a report to the stockholders.
    4. to emit or discharge: The flowers sent forth a sweet odor.
  4. send in, to cause to be dispatched or delivered to a destination: Send in your contest entries to this station.
  5. send off, to cause to depart or to be conveyed from oneself; dispatch; dismiss: His teacher sent him off to the principal's office.
  6. send out,
    1. to distribute; issue.
    2. to send on the way; dispatch: They sent out their final shipment last week.
    3. to order delivery: We sent out for coffee.
  7. send up,
    1. to release or cause to go upward; let out.
    2. Informal.to sentence or send to prison: He was convicted and sent up for life.
    3. to expose the flaws or foibles of through parody, burlesque, caricature, lampoon, or other forms of satire: The new movie sends up merchants who commercialize Christmas.
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Idioms
  1. send packing, to dismiss curtly; send away in disgrace: The cashier was stealing, so we sent him packing.
  2. send round, to circulate or dispatch widely: Word was sent round about his illness.
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Origin of send1

before 900; Middle English senden, Old English sendan; cognate with German senden, Gothic sandjan (causative) < Germanic base *sinth-, *santh- go, whence Old English sīth journey, sand message, messenger
Related formssend·a·ble, adjective
Can be confusedscend send

Synonyms

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2. transmit, dispatch, forward. 4. cast, hurl, fling, project.

Antonyms

1. receive.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

adieugoodbyesendoffvaledictionsalutationpartingciaocheerioadiosleave-takingbye-byefarewellGodspeedsend-offta-ta

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British Dictionary definitions for sendoff

sendoff

noun informal
  1. a demonstration of good wishes to a person about to set off on a journey, new career, etc
  2. a start, esp an auspicious one, to a venture
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verb send off (tr, adverb)
  1. to cause to depart; despatch
  2. sport (of the referee) to dismiss (a player) from the field of play for some offence
  3. informal to give a sendoff to
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send1

verb sends, sending or sent
  1. (tr) to cause or order (a person or thing) to be taken, directed, or transmitted to another placeto send a letter; she sent the salesman away
  2. (when intr, foll by for;; when tr, takes an infinitive) to dispatch a request or command (for something or to do something)he sent for a bottle of wine; he sent to his son to come home
  3. (tr) to direct or cause to go to a place or pointhis blow sent the champion to the floor
  4. (tr) to bring to a state or conditionthis noise will send me mad
  5. (tr; often foll by forth, out, etc) to cause to issue; emithis cooking sent forth a lovely smell from the kitchen
  6. (tr) to cause to happen or comemisery sent by fate
  7. to transmit (a message) by radio, esp in the form of pulses
  8. (tr) slang to move to excitement or rapturethis music really sends me
  9. send someone about his business to dismiss or get rid of someone
  10. send someone packing to dismiss or get rid of (someone) peremptorily
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noun
  1. another word for swash (def. 4)
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See also send down, sendoff, send up
Derived Formssendable, adjectivesender, noun

Word Origin

Old English sendan; related to Old Norse senda, Gothic sandjan, Old High German senten

send2

verb, noun sends, sending or sent
  1. a variant spelling of scend
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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 sendoff

send

v.

Old English sendan "send, send forth; throw, impel," from Proto-Germanic *sandijan (cf. Old Saxon sendian, Old Norse and Old Frisian senda, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch senden, Dutch zenden, German senden, Gothic sandjan), causative form of base *sinþan, denoting "go, journey" (source of Old English sið "way, journey," Old Norse sinn, Gothic sinþs "going, walk, time"), from PIE root *sent- "to head for, go" (cf. Lithuanian siusti "send;" see sense (n.)).

Also used in Old English of divine ordinance (e.g. godsend, from Old English sand "messenger, message," from Proto-Germanic *sandaz "that which is sent"). Slang sense of "to transport with emotion, delight" is recorded from 1932, in American English jazz slang.

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send-off

n.

"a farewell" (especially a funeral), 1872, from verbal phrase (attested by 1660s), from send (v.) + off (adv.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper