launch

Defined in 4 dictionaries — U.S. Code, Cyclopedic (1922), Bouvier (1914), Black's (1910)

United States Code

the term “launch” means to place, or attempt to place, a launch vehicle and its payload, if any, in a suborbital trajectory, in Earth orbit in outer space, or otherwise in outer space;

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

The movement by which a ship or boat descends from the shore into the water when she is first built, or afterwards. A large, long, low, flat-bottomed boat. Mar. Diet. The long-boat of a ship; a small vessel employed to carry the cargo of a large one to and from the shore. LAUS DEO (Lat.) Praise be to God. An old heading to bills of exchange. West, Symb. pt. 1, lib. 2, S 660. LAVOR NUEVA (Spanish).

In Spanish law. A new work. Las Partidas, pt. 8, tit. 32, lib. 1.

Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914

The movement by which a ship or boat descends from the shore into the water when she is first built, or afterwards. A vessel already in the water cannot be launched; Homer v. The Lady of the Ocean, 70 Me. 352. A large, long, low, fiat-bottomed boat Mar. Diet The long boat of a ship. R. H. Dana. A small vessel emploj'ed to carry the cargo of a large one to and from the shore. The goods on board of a launch are at the risk of the Insurers till landed; Osacar V. Ins. Co., 5 Mart N. S. (La.) 387. The duties and rights of the master of a launch are the same as those of the master of a lighter. When the master of a vessel agreed to take cotton on board his vessel from the cottonpress, and employed a steam-lighter for that purpose, and the cotton was lost by an explosion of the steam-boiler of the lighter, it was held tliat his vessel was liable in rem for the loss; 23 Dost. L. Rep. 277.

Black's Law Dictionary

Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

1. The act of launching a vessel; the movement of a vessel from the land into the water, especially the sliding on ways from the stocks on which it is built. Homer v. The Lady of the Ocean, 70 Me. 352.
2. A boat of the largest size belonging to a ship of war; an open boat of large size used in any service; a lighter.