▪ I. † deˈfalcate, ppl. a. Obs.
[ad. med.L. dēfalcāt-us, pa. pple. of dēfalcāre: see next.]
Curtailed, diminished.
| 1531 Elyot Gov. ii. x, All thoughe philosophers in the description of vertues haue deuised to set them as it were in degrees..yet be nat these in any parte defalcate of their condigne praises. |
▪ II. defalcate, v.
(dɪˈfælkeɪt)
Also 6–7 -at.
[f. dēfalcāt-, ppl. stem of med.L. dēfalcāre (see Du Cange), f. de- I. 1, 2 + L. falx, falc-em sickle, reaping-hook, scythe. Cf. F. défalquer (14th c. in Littré), Sp. defalcar, It. diffalcare.]
† 1. trans. To cut or lop off (a portion from a whole); to retrench, deduct, subtract, abate.
| 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 25 He shall defalcate that thyng that semeth superfluouse. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. §54 Rather..then to defalcate any jot of their couetous demaunds. 1624 F. White Repl. Fisher 496 To defalcate a substantiall part. 1653 Manton Exp. James ii. 10 Man is not..to defalcate and cut off such a considerable part of duty at his own pleasure. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. xxiv. 450 Those that had accounts to make to the king..used to defalcate a part and put it into their own pockets. 1755 N. Magens Insurances I. 439 Defalcating from the Money due to the English, the Sum which his Subjects demanded for their Indemnification. 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 195 The least desire to see defalcated any the least particle of abuse from a system composed wholly of abuse. 1817 ― Plan of Parl. Reform cccxvi. |
† 2. To take or deduct a part from; to curtail, reduce. Obs.
| a 1690 E. Hopkins Exp. Ten Commandm. (R.), To..defalcate, and as it were to decimate the laws of the great God. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4) 90 Such an one shall..be defalcated all those Particulars in his Account, where the Fraud appears. 1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 66 ¶2 If it [the mind] were defalcated and reduced. 1817 Bentham Ch.-of-Englandism (1818) 386 Let all pay..be defalcated, and applied to the real exigencies of the State. |
b. To diminish or lessen in luminosity, heat, etc.
| 1808 Herschel in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 156 Both phases appear to me sufficiently defalcated, to prove that the comet did not shine by light reflected from the sun only. |
3. intr. To commit defalcations; to misappropriate property in one's charge.
| 1864 in Webster. 1888 Daily News 23 July 5/1 Head clerks have defalcated. 1891 Law Times XCII. 19/1 The secretary of the society having defalcated, and being threatened..with criminal proceedings. |