1. Capable of being dispensed or administered.
2. Capable of being dispensed with. Coleridge.
Dispensableness
(Dis*pen"sa*ble*ness), n. Quality of being dispensable.
Dispensary
(Dis*pen"sa*ry) n.; pl. Dispensaries [Cf. F. dispensaire.]
1. A place where medicines are prepared and dispensed; esp., a place where the poor can obtain medical
advice and medicines gratuitously or at a nominal price.
2. A dispensatory. Pope.
Dispensation
(Dis`pen*sa"tion) n. [F. dispensation, L. dispensatio.]
1. The act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution; often used of the distribution of good and evil by God
to man, or more generically, of the acts and modes of his administration.
To respect the dispensations of Providence.
Burke. 2. That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed; especially (Theol.),
A system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and administered; scheme; economy; as, the Patriarchal,
Mosaic, and Christian dispensations.
Neither are God's methods or intentions different in his dispensations to each private man.
Rogers. 3. The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing
something enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law
or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will
A dispensation was obtained to enable Dr. Barrow to marry.
Ward. Dispensative
(Dis*pen"sa*tive) a. [Cf. F. dispensatif.] Granting dispensation.
Dispensatively
(Dis*pen"sa*tive*ly), adv. By dispensation. Wotton.
Dispensator
(Dis"pen*sa`tor) n. [L.] A distributer; a dispenser. Bacon.
Dispensatorily
(Dis*pen"sa*to*ri*ly) adv. In the way of dispensation; dispensatively.
Dispensatory
(Dis*pen"sa*to*ry) a. [L. dispensatorius relating to management. See Dispense, v. t.]
Granting, or authorized to grant, dispensations. "Dispensatory power." Bp. Rainbow.
Dispensatory
(Dis*pen"sa*to*ry), n.; pl. Dispensatories A book or medicinal formulary containing
a systematic description of drugs, and of preparations made from them. It is usually, but not always,
distinguished from a pharmacopœia in that it issued by private parties, and not by an official body or by
government.
Dispense
(Dis*pense") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dispensed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Dispensing.] [F. dispenser, L.
dispensare, intens. of dispendere. See Dispend.]
1. To deal out in portions; to distribute; to give; as, the steward dispenses provisions according directions; Nature
dispenses her bounties; to dispense medicines.
He is delighted to dispense a share of it to all the company.
Sir W. Scott.
