deliver

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɪˈlɪv.ə/, US /dɪˈlɪv.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English deliveren,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French delivrer (“to set free; remove; hand over”),^[2][4][5] from Late Latin dēlīberāre,^[2][4][3] from dē “away” and Latin līberāre “to free”,^[2][4][6] from līber “free”,^[2][7] the source of liberate and liberty.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To save, rescue, set free: about 1200 in Etymonline,^[2] probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[4] before 1225 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

To hand over or transfer is from about 1280 in Barnhart and about 1300 in Etymonline, a sense opposed to the word's original meaning.^[4][2] To bring a woman to childbirth, that is, to unburden or set her free, is from about 1300.^[4][2][8] To project, throw or strike is from about 1400 in Etymonline^[2] and 1597 in Barnhart,^[4] and to utter, as a speech, from the 16th century.^[5] Letters and goods have been delivered since the late Middle Ages.^[7] Stand and deliver was the highwayman's demand, recorded in an early 18th-century account of highwaymen,^[7] and deliver the goods, to provide what was promised, is American, from political debate of the 1870s.^[7] Deliverance is from about 1300^[4] and delivery from 1425.^[4]

Timeline

• a. 1225 – to set free.^[8]
• c. 1280 – to hand over.^[4]
• c. 1300 – to bring to childbirth, and deliverance.^[4]
• 1425 – delivery.^[4]
• 16th century – to utter.^[5]
• 1870s – deliver the goods.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To take goods, letters or parcels to the proper person or place.
2. To hand over or surrender; to transfer.
3. To give or utter: deliver a speech, deliver a verdict.
4. To help in the birth of a baby; to give birth.
5. To set free or rescue: deliver us from evil.
6. To throw or strike: deliver a blow.
7. To produce what is promised or expected.

Word family

• deliverability
• deliverable
• deliverer
• deliverance
• deliverly
• misdeliver
• outdeliver
• predeliver

Related words

• liberate
• liberty
• liberal
• delivery

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press