De*liv"er , a. [OF. delivre free, unfettered.
See Deliver,
v. t.]
Free; nimble; sprightly; active.
[Obs.]
Wonderly deliver and great of strength.
Chaucer.
De*liv"er (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delivered (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Delivering.]
[F. délivrer, LL. deliberare to liberate, give over, fr. L. de + liberare to set free. See Liberate.]
1. To set free from restraint; to set at liberty; to release; to liberate, as from control; to give up; to free; to save; to rescue from evil actual or feared; -- often with from or out of;
as, to deliver one from captivity, or from fear
of death.
He that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Ezek. xxxiii. 5.
Promise was that I
Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver.
Milton.
2. To give or transfer; to yield possession or control of; to part with (to); to make over; to
commit; to surrender; to resign; -- often with up or over, to or into.
Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand.
Gen. xl. 13. The constables have
delivered her over.
Shak. The exalted mind
All sense of woe
delivers to the wind.
Pope. 3. To make over
to the knowledge of another; to communicate; to utter; to speak; to impart.
Till he these
words to him deliver might.
Spenser.
Whereof the former delivers the
precepts of the art, and the latter the perfection.
Bacon. 4. To give forth
in action or exercise; to discharge; as, to deliver a blow; to deliver a broadside, or a ball.
Shaking his head
and delivering some show of tears.
Sidney. An uninstructed bowler . . . thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straightforward upon it.
Sir W. Scott. 5. To free from,
or disburden of, young; to
relieve of a child in childbirth; to bring forth; -- often with of.
She
was delivered safe and soon.
Gower. Tully was long ere he could be delivered of a few verses,
and those poor ones.
Peacham. 6. To discover; to show. [Poetic]
I 'll deliver
Myself your loyal servant.
Shak.
7. To deliberate. [Obs.] Chaucer.
8. To admit; to allow to pass. [Obs.] Bacon.
Syn. --
To Deliver, Give Forth, Discharge, Liberate, Pronounce, Utter.
Deliver denotes, literally, to set free. Hence the term is extensively applied to cases
where a thing is made
to pass from a confined state to one
of greater freedom or openness. Hence it may,
in certain connections, be used as synonymous with any or all of the above-mentioned words, as will be seen
from the following examples: One who delivers a package gives it forth; one who delivers a cargo discharges it; one who
delivers a captive
liberates him; one who delivers a message or a
discourse utters or
pronounces it; when
soldiers deliver their fire, they set it
free or give it forth.
Hear it pronounced