launch 2 
(lônch, länch)
(lônch, länch)n.
1. A large ship's boat.
2. A large, open motorboat.
[Alteration (possibly influenced by LAUNCH1) of Early Modern English lanch, ultimately (possibly partly via Spanish lancha) from Portuguese lancha, perhaps alteration of lancara, a kind of small swift Asian oared boat, from Malay lancaran : lancar, swift + -an, nominalizing suffix.]