De-liv'er1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. DELIVERED; p. pr. & vb. n. DELIVERING.] [Fr. délivrer, L. Lat. deliberare, to liberate, to give over, from Lat. de and liberare, to set free; Fr. livrer, Pr. livrar, It. livrare, liverare, Pg. livrar, Sp. librar, L. Lat. liberare, to deliver up, from Lat. liberare. See LIBERATE.]
Sense 1. To free from restraint; to set at liberty; to release from confinement; to liberate, as from control; to give up; to free; to rescue or save from evil actual or feared; as, to deliver one from captivity, or from fear of death.
Promise was that I Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver. Milton.
Sense 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.
Sense 3. To make over to the knowledge of another; to communicate; to utter; to pronounce; to impart. “Till he these words to him deliver might.” Spenser.
Sense 4. To give forth in action or exercise; to discharge; as, to deliver a blow; to deliver a broadside.
Shaking his head and delivering some show of tears. Sidney.
An uninstructed bowler . . . thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon it. W. Scott.
Sense 5. To free from, or disburden of, young; to relieve of a child in child-birth.
She was delivered safe and soon. Gower.
Synonyms—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 a platoon of soldiers deliver their fire, they set it free or give it forth.