Etymology From Middle English, from Old French dispenser, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to weigh out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weigh out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).
1
To issue, distribute, or give out.
He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company.1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
The smoky spray seemed to trap whatever light there was and to dispense it subtly.1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 40:
2
To apply, as laws to particular cases; to administer; to execute; to manage; to direct.
to dispense justice
While you dispense the laws, and guide the state.1662, John Dryden, To the Lord Chancellor Hyde:
3
To supply or make up a medicine or prescription.
The pharmacist dispensed my tablets.
An optician can dispense spectacles.
4
To give a dispensation to (someone); to excuse.
Particularly in canon law
After his victories, he often gave them the reines to all licenciousnesse, for a while dispencing them from all rules of military discipline[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 34, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
Of evils the first and greatest is, that hereby a most absurd and rash imputation is fixt upon God and his holy Laws, of conniving and dispensing with open and common adultery among his chosen people; a thing which the rankest politician would think it shame and disworship, that his Laws should countenance; how and in what manner this comes to passe, I shall reserve, till the course of method brings on the unfolding of many Scriptures.1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce:
4 more examples
1779–81, Samuel Johnson, "Richard Savage" in Lives of the Most Eminent English Poet He appeared to think himself born to be supported by others, and dispensed from all necessity of providing for himself.
It was resolved that all members of the House who held commissions, should be dispensed from parliamentary attendance.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
Every spring, the passive aggressive archbishop suffered from a brief flu that dispensed him from needing to provide Easter service to the king.
She was dispensed from her vows and married Captain von Trapp.
5
Obsolete To compensate; to make up; to make amends.
One loving howre / For many yeares of sorrow can dispence1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:
His synne was dispensed with golde, wherof it was compensedc. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy […], published 1857, →OCLC:
Etymology From Middle English, from Old French dispenser, from Latin dispēnsāre (“to weigh out, pay out, distribute, regulate, manage, control, dispense”), frequentative of dispendere (“to weigh out”), from dis- (“apart”) + pendere (“to weigh”).
[…] what euer in this worldly state / Is sweet, and pleasing vnto liuing sense, / Or that may dayntiest fantasie aggrate, / Was poured forth with plentifull dispence […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC: