delegate
/ˈdɛlɪɡət/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms delegates delegating delegated
- noun A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.
- noun A representative at a conference, etc.
- noun (US) An appointed representative in some legislative bodies.
- noun (computing) A type of variable storing a reference to a method with a particular signature, analogous to a function pointer.
- noun A member of a governmental legislature who lacks voting power. “The house of delegates in apartheid-era South Africa lacked any real voting power.”
- verb (intransitive) To commit tasks and responsibilities to others, especially subordinates.
- verb (transitive) To commit (a task or responsibility) to someone, especially a subordinate.
- verb (transitive) To appoint (someone) as one's representative.
- verb (computing, Internet, transitive) (of a subdomain) To give away authority over a subdomain; to allow someone else to create sub-subdomains of a subdomain of one's own.
- adjective (obsolete, past participle) delegated
- adjective (obsolete, adjective) Acting as a delegate, delegated; of, pertaining to a delegate
- proper noun A locality in the Snowy Monaro council area, south eastern New South Wales, Australia.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English delegat, from Old French delegat, from Latin dēlēgātus substantivized from the nominative masculine singular of dēlēgātus, the perfect passive participle of dēlēgō (“to send, assign, delegate”), see -ate (noun-forming suffix). See also legate.
From the above noun by metanalysis or directly borrowed from Latin dēlēgātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
From Middle English delegat(e) (“delegated”, used as a past participle and adjective), used as the past participle of delegate up until Early Modern English, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one sent and empowered to act for another; one deputed to represent; a chosen deputy; a representative; a commissioner; a vicar.
- adjective Sent to act for a represent another; deputed; as, a delegate judge. "Delegate power." Strype.
- verb To send as one's representative; to empower as an ambassador; to send with power to transact business; to commission; to depute; to authorize.
- verb To intrust to the care or management of another; to transfer; to assign; to commit.
Etymology [L. delegatus, p. p. of delegare to send, delegate; de- + legare to send with a commission, to depute. See Legate.]
Etymology [L. delegatus, p. p.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “delegate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details