Dispenser

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /dɪˈspɛnsə/

Definitions

1. A device or container designed to release controlled amounts of a substance or object when needed
2. A mechanism or receptacle that provides a measured quantity of a material or item automatically or manually upon activation
3. An apparatus or vessel that permits the release of precise portions of a substance or object as required

Etymology: The earliest sense of this word was a person, not a device. Its ancestor was Latin "dispensator," a steward or manager who handled and distributed household goods, and in medieval England the Anglo-Norman "dispensour" and Old French "despenseor" named officials who managed a lord's stores and payments. The ancient idea of managing and paying out resources survives in the modern sense of a machine that releases something in measured portions. The English word is built from "dispense," which comes from Latin "dispensare," meaning to weigh out or distribute, plus the agent suffix "-er," so a dispenser is literally something that dispenses. The shift from a steward handing out a household's supplies to a vending machine or soap pump follows the same logic: both regulate how much is given out and when.

Synonyms: distributor, provider, supplier, vending machine, appliance

Antonyms: receiver, consumer, user, client, purchaser