De·liv·er v. t. [imp. & p. p. Delivered p. pr. & vb. n. Delivering.]
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.]
8. To admit; to allow to pass. [Obs.]
Syn: -- To Deliver, Give Forth, Discharge, Liberate, Pronounce, Utter.
Usage: 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.