logo       

delate: msg#00028

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: delate

****************************************************************
Ready to tackle a good book this summer? Make a good
read better with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?c11.htm&1
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 29 is:

delate \dih-LAYT\ verb
*1: accuse, denounce
2 : report, relate

Example sentence:
"In that year Archbishop Blackadder of Glasgow delated some thirty
heretics to James IV who let the matter go with a jest." (J.D. Mackie, _A
History of Scotland_)

Did you know?
To "delate" someone is to "hand down" that person to a court of law. In
Latin, "delatus" is the unlikely-looking past participle of "deferre," meaning
"to bring down, report, or accuse," which in turn comes from "ferre," meaning
"to carry." Not surprisingly, our word "defer," meaning "to yield to the
opinion or wishes of another," can also be traced back to "deferre." At one
time, in fact, "defer" and "delate" had parallel meanings (both could mean "to
carry down or away" or "to offer for acceptance"), but those senses are now
obsolete. Today, you are most likely to encounter "delate" or its relatives
"delation" and "delator" in the context of medieval tribunals, although the
words can also relate to modern ecclesiastical tribunals.




You Are Subscribed As: GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 072906 GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
leave-mw-text-979910Y@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Google Custom Search

News | FAQ | advertise