Deploy

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /dɪˈplɔɪ/

Definitions

1. To arrange or position resources, personnel, or equipment effectively for use ; to move troops or forces into a prepared location or formation for operation
2. To systematically set up or distribute something for optimal function or display ; to advance military units into tactical placement for a mission
3. To spread out or organize elements for efficient employment ; to strategically place deployed forces ready for action or defense

Etymology: The verb "deploy" carries a military sense that began as a literal action of unfolding fabric. In Old French, "desploiier" meant to unfold, and the military sense came later from the idea of spreading an army out from a column into a broad battle line. English borrowed the word from French "déployer", which means "to unroll" or "to unfold", and an earlier Middle English form, "desployen", meant "to unfold" or "display" as well. The word's roots are sometimes traced to Late Latin "displicāre", meaning "to unfold, display", built from Latin "dis-" ("apart") and "plicare" ("to fold"). The same Latin "plicare" also gave English "ply", "complicate" and "implicate", all tied to folding things together. "Deploy" is a doublet of "display", the two words coming into English by separate routes from the same ancestry: one through French, the other through a different path.

Synonyms: position, station, arrange

Antonyms: withdraw, retract