Adjacent Words

Delegate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DELEGATE, v.t. [L. To send.]
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 entrust; to commit; to deliver to anothers care and exercise; as, to delegate authority or power to an envoy, representative or judge.
DELEGATE, 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 ecclesiastical causes. It is used also for the court of appeals from that of the admiralty.
3. A layman appointed to attend an ecclesiastical council.
DELEGATE, a. Deputed; sent to act for or represent another; as a delegate judge.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person appointed or elected to represent others v
1: transfer power to someone [syn: delegate, depute]
2: give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person) [syn: delegate, designate, depute, assign]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English delegat, from Medieval Latin delegatus, from Latin, past participle of delegare to delegate, from de- + legare to send — more at legate Date: 15th century a person acting for another: as a. a representative to a convention or conference b. a representative of a United States territory in the House of Representatives c. a member of the lower house of the legislature of Maryland, Virginia, or West Virginia II. verb (-gated; -gating) Date: 1530 transitive verb 1. to entrust to another <delegate authority> 2. to appoint as one's representative intransitive verb to assign responsibility or authority <a good manager knows how to delegate> • delegatee noun • delegator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 an elected representative sent to a conference. 2 a member of a committee. 3 a member of a deputation. --v.tr. 1 (often foll. by to) a commit (authority, power, etc.) to an agent or deputy. b entrust (a task) to another person. 2 send or authorize (a person) as a representative; depute. Derivatives: delegable adj. Etymology: ME f. L delegatus (as DE-, legare depute)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Delegate Del"e*gate, a. [L. delegatus, p. p.] Sent to act for or represent another; deputed; as, a delegate judge. ``Delegate power.'' --Strype.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Delegate Del"e*gate, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delegated; p. pr. & vb. n. Delegating.] 1. To send as one's representative; to empower as an ambassador; to send with power to transact business; to commission; to depute; to authorize. 2. To intrust to the care or management of another; to transfer; to assign; to commit. The delegated administration of the law. --Locke. Delegated executive power. --Bancroft. The power exercised by the legislature is the people's power, delegated by the people to the legislative. --J. B. Finch.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Delegate Del"e*gate, n. [L. delegatus, p. p. of delegare to send, delegate; de- + legare to send with a commission, to depute. See Legate.] 1. Any one sent and empowered to act for another; one deputed to represent; a chosen deputy; a representative; a commissioner; a vicar. 2. (a) One elected by the people of a territory to represent them in Congress, where he has the right of debating, but not of voting. (b) One sent by any constituency to act as its representative in a convention; as, a delegate to a convention for nominating officers, or for forming or altering a constitution. [U.S.] Court of delegates, formerly, the great court of appeal from the archbishops' courts and also from the court of admiralty. It is now abolished, and the privy council is the immediate court of appeal in such cases. [Eng.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(delegated) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A delegate is a person who is chosen to vote or make decisions on behalf of a group of other people, especially at a conference or a meeting. = representative N-COUNT 2. If you delegate duties, responsibilities, or power to someone, you give them those duties, those responsibilities, or that power so that they can act on your behalf. He plans to delegate more authority to his deputies... Many employers find it hard to delegate. VERB: V n to n, V • delegation A key factor in running a business is the delegation of responsibility. N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp 3. If you are delegated to do something, you are given the duty of acting on someone else's behalf by making decisions, voting, or doing some particular work. Officials have now been delegated to start work on a draft settlement. = appoint VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to-inf

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Depute, commission, appoint as agent, send on an embassy. 2. Intrust, commit. II. n. Deputy, commissioner, representative.

Foolish Dictionary

From Eng. dally, to loaf, and Fr. gate, spoiled. A spoiled loafer.

Moby Thesaurus

accredit, agent, alternate, ambassador, appoint, ascribe, assign, authorize, buck, catchpole, charge, charter, choose, commend, commissar, commissary, commission, commissionaire, commissioner, commit, confide, consign, depute, deputize, deputy, designate, designate an agent, detach, detail, devolute, devolve, devolve upon, emissary, empower, enfeoff, entrust, envoy, factor, give, give in charge, give in trust, go-between, hand on, hand over, herald, infeudate, legate, license, mandate, messenger, minister, mission, mouthpiece, name, nominate, pass on, pass over, pick, plenipotentiary, post, proxy, relegate, remand, remit, replacement, representative, secretary, select, send out, spokesman, spokesperson, spokeswoman, stand-in, substitute, surrogate, transfer, trust, warrant