Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-LATE', v.t. [L. delatus; de and latus, part. of fero, to bear.]

1. To carry; to convey. [Little used.] Bacon.
2. To accuse; to inform against; that is, to bear a charge against. B. Jonson.

DE-LA'TION, n.

1. Carriage; conveyance; as, the delation of sound. [Little used.] Bacon.
2. Accusation; act of charging with a crime; a term of the civil law.

DE-LA'TOR, n. [L.]

An accuser; an informer. Sandys.

DE-LAY', n.

1. A lingering; stay; stop.
2. A putting off or deferring; procrastination; as, the delay of trial is not to be imputed to the plaintif.
3. Hinderance for a time.

DE-LAY', v.i.

To linger; to move slow; or to stop for a time. There are certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of ideas, beyond which they can neither delay nor hasten. Locke.

DE-LAY', v.t. [Fr. delai, delay; Sp. dilatar; Port, id., to delay; It. dilata, delay; dilature, to dilate, to spread; from L. dilatus, differo. We see that delay is from spreading, extending. See Dilate.]

1. To prolong the time of acting, or proceeding; to put off; to defer. My lord delayeth his coming. Matt. xxiv.
2. To retard; to stop, detain or hinder for a time; to restrain motion, or render it slow; as, the mail is delayed by bad roads. Thyrsis, whose artful strains have oft delayed / The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. Milton.
3. To allay. [Not in use, nor proper.] Spenser.

DE-LAY'ED, pp.

Deferred; detained; hindered for a time; retarded.

DE-LAY'ER, n.

One who defers; one who lingers.

DE-LAY'ING, ppr.

Putting off; deferring; procrastinating; retarding; detaining.

DE-LAY'MENT, n.

Hinderance. Gower.

DEL-CRED'ER-E, n.

A guaranty given by fators, binding them to warrant the solvency of the purchasers of goods, which they sell on credit. This is done for a premium.

DE'LE, v.t. [L. imperative of deleo.]

Blot out; erase.

DEL'E-BLE, a. [L. delebilis.]

That can be blotted out. More.

DE-LEC'TA-BLE, a. [L. delectabilis, from delector, to delight. See Delight.]

Delightful; highly pleasing; that gives great joy or pleasure; as, a delectable garden. Milton.

DE-LEC'TA-BLE-NESS, n.

Delightfulness. Barret.

DE-LEC'TA-BLY, adv.

Delightfully.

DE-LEC-TA'TION, n.

Great pleasure; delight. More.

DEL'E-GA-CY, n.

A number of persons delegated. Laud. [We now use delegation.]

DEL'E-GATE, a.

Deputed; sent to act for or represent another; as, a delegate judge. Taylor.

DEL'E-GATE, n.

1. A person appointed and sent by another with powers to transact business as his representative; a deputy; a commissioner; a vicar. In the United States, a person elected or appointed to represent a state or a district, in the Congress, or in a Convention for forming or altering a constitution.
2. In Great Britain, a commissioner appointed by the king, under the great seal, to hear and determine appeals from the ecclesiastical court. Hence the Court of Delegates is the great court of appeal in all ecelesiastical causes. It is used also for the court of appeals from that of the Admiralty. Blackstone.
3. A layman appointed to attend an ecclesiastical council.

DEL'E-GATE, v.t. [L. delego; de and lego, to send. See Legate.]

1. To send away; appropriately, to send on an embassy; to send with power to transact business, as a representative. The President delegated three commissioners to the court of St. Cloud.
2. To intrust; to commit; to deliver to another's care and exercise; as, to delegate authority or power to an envoy, representative or judge.

DEL'E-GA-TED, pp.

Deputed; sent with a trust or commission to act for another; appointed a judge; committed, as authority.

DEL'E-GA-TING, ppr.

Deputing; sending with a commission to act for another; appointing; committing; intrusting.

DEL-E-GA'TION, n.

1. A sending away; the act of putting in commission, or investing with authority to act for another; the appointment of a delegate. Burke. The duties of religion can not be performed by delegation. S. Miller.
2. The person deputed to act for another, or for others. Thus, the representatives of Massachusetts in Congress are called the delegation, or whole delegation.
3. In the civil law, the assignment of a debt to another, as when a debtor appoints his debtor to answer to the creditor in his place.

DELENDA-EST-CARTHAGO, v. [L.]

Carthage must be annihilated – our rival must be destroyed.