U

dispensing

verb (used with object), dis·pensed, dis·pens·ing.

to deal out; distribute: to dispense wisdom.
to administer: to dispense the law without bias.
Pharmacology. to make up and distribute (medicine), especially on prescription.
Roman Catholic Church. to grant dispensation.

verb (used without object), dis·pensed, dis·pens·ing.

to grant dispensation.

noun

Obsolete. expenditure.

Verb Phrases

dispense with,
1. to do without; forgo: to dispense with preliminaries.
2. to do away with; rid of.
3. to grant exemption from a law or promise.

verb

(tr) to give out or issue in portions
(tr) to prepare and distribute (medicine), esp on prescription
(tr) to administer (the law, etc)
(intr foll by with) to do away (with) or manage (without)
to grant a dispensation to (someone) from (some obligation of church law)
to exempt or excuse from a rule or obligation

early 14c., from Old French dispenser “give out” (13c.), from Latin dispensare “disburse, administer, distribute (by weight),” frequentative of dispendere “pay out,” from dis- “out” (see dis-) + pendere “to pay, weigh” (see pendant).

In Medieval Latin, dispendere was used in the ecclesiastical sense of “grant license to do what is forbidden or omit what is required” (a power of popes, bishops, etc.), and thus acquired a sense of “grant remission from punishment or exemption from law,” hence “to do away with” (1570s), “do without” (c.1600). Older sense is preserved in dispensary. Related: Dispensed; dispensing.

To prepare and give out medicines.