De*liv"er*ance (?), n.
[F. délivrance, fr.
délivrer.]
1. The act of
delivering or freeing from restraint, captivity, peril, and the like; rescue; as, the deliverance of a captive.
He hath sent
me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance
to the captives.
Luke iv. 18. One death or
one deliverance we will share.
Dryden.
2. Act of
bringing forth children. [Archaic]
Shak.
3. Act of speaking; utterance. [Archaic]
Shak.
&fist; In this and in the preceding sense delivery is the word more commonly used.
4. The state of being delivered, or freed from restraint.
I do desire deliverance
from these
officers.
Shak. 5. Anything delivered or
communicated; esp., an opinion
or decision expressed publicly. [Scot.]
6. (Metaph.) Any fact or truth
which is decisively attested or intuitively known as a
psychological or philosophical datum; as, the
deliverance of consciousness.
Hear it pronounced