delivery

delivery
  (dɪˈlɪvərɪ)
  Forms: 5 deliveree, 5–6 delyuery(e, 6 -ere, 6–7 deliverie, 6– -ery.
  [a. Anglo-Fr. delivrée, fem. n. f. pa. pple. of délivrer to deliver: cf. livery, and see -y.]
  † 1. a. The action of setting free; release, rescue, deliverance. Obs.

1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxxiii. 266 The quene made assyduat laboure for the delyuerye of the kynge her husbonde. 1555 Eden Decades 103 Thankes geuynge to almyghty god for his delyuery and preseruation from so many imminent perels. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 90 A servant of his..by force attempting his Lords delivery. 1671 Milton Samson 1505 Thy hopes are not ill founded, nor seem vain, Of his delivery. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxx, Here is the brave man to whom I owe my delivery. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs II. 58 Some that called upon the Lord for delivery before there was need.

  b. The action of delivering a gaol: see deliver v.¹ 2 c, and jail-delivery.
  2. a. The fact of being delivered of, or act of bringing forth, offspring; childbirth.
  Usually of the mother; formerly sometimes of the child; cf. deliver v. 3.

1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 139 For this poore creature..is as much tormented in her deliverie, as a shrew. 1611 Bible Isa. xxvi. 17 Like as a woman..that draweth neere the time of her deliuerie. 1648 W. Mountague Devoute Ess. i. xii. §1 (R.) As they are twins..their delivery is commonly after such a manner, as that of Pharez and Zara. 1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 29 My prayers shall attend your ladies good delivery of a brave boy. 1868 Chambers' Encycl. VI. 446/1 Midwife..a woman who assists in parturition or delivery.

attrib. 1876 tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. XI. 562 That form of paralysis..in newly-born children..which we should call delivery-paralysis.

  b. As the action of the accoucheur or midwife.

[1660 Shirley Andromana iii. i. 8, I am with child to hear the news: Pr'ythee Be quick in the delivery.] 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 323 Injury in a laborious, hasty or injudicious delivery. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 483, I therefore did not conceive myself justified..in proceeding to immediate delivery. 1889 W. S. Playfair Treat. Midwifery II. iv. ii. 163 No other means of effecting artificial delivery was known.

  c. fig.

a 1639 Marmion Antiquary iii. ii, My head labours with the pangs of delivery. 1823 Scott Peveril xlvi, Out started the dwarf..and the poor German, on seeing the portentous delivery of his fiddlecase, tumbled on the floor.

  3. The act of giving up possession of; surrender.

1513 More in Grafton Chron. II. 772 The whole counsaile had sente him to require of her the deliverie of him [her child]. 1548 Hall Chron. 245 b, The delivery of the Castell of Barwyke. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 181 The deliverie of the rocke of Saint Julian and of the fort. 1780 Impartial Hist. War Amer. 147 Marching directly to Boston, there to demand a delivery of the powder and stores, and in case of refusal to attack the troops. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. 158 The arrest of Trimbak, and his delivery to the British Government.

  4. a. The action of handing over, or conveying into the hands of another; esp. the action of a carrier in delivering letters or goods entrusted to him for conveyance to a person at a distance.

1480 Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 140 For the deliveree of the said stuff and bedding. 1556 in Hakluyt Voy. (1886) III. 113 Hauing receiued any priuie letters..you shal..let the deliuerie of them at your arriuing in Russia. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 124 He might forge other Letters..else why kept he them two dayes without delivery. 1679 Burnet Hist. Ref. I. i. (R.), The investitures of bishops and abbots..had been originally given by the delivery of the pastoral ring and staff. 1799 W. Tooke View Russian Emp. III. 652 Extraordinary charges for the delivery of goods. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. ii, It [a letter] will be here by the two o'clock delivery. 1851 H. Martineau Hist. Peace (1877) III. iv. xiv. 139 The convenience of two or three deliveries of letters per day. 1879 R. M. Ballantyne Post Haste vii. (1880) 74 The delivery of a telegram.

fig. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §9 Another error is in the manner of the tradition and delivery of knowledge.

attrib. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton xviii. (1840) 316 Our proper delivery port..was at Madagascar. 1889 Daily News 11 Dec. 3/2 Carmen's wages:—Delivery men: Driving, 1s. per day and 7d. per ton.

  b. Law. (a) The formal or legal handing over of anything to another; esp. the putting of property into the legal possession of another person.

1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 264 Goods are gotten..by deliuerie. 1625 Gill Sacr. Philos. i. 87 Whereof we have already assurance, yea deliverie, and seisure. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 47 Acts which have been held to be a part performance of an agreement..such as delivery of possession; and payment of the whole, or a considerable part of the consideration. 1887 V. Sampson in Cape Law Jrnl. 38 We now come to the several species of constructive delivery, of which delivery brevis manus, or short-hand is the first. 1891 Law Times XC. 473/1 After delivery of defence the plaintiff discontinued his action.

  (b) The formal transfer of a deed by the grantor or his attorney to the grantee or to a third party, either by act or by word: formerly essential to the validity of the deed.

1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 25 Absolute estates of inheritance which..do not pass by livery and seisin, but by delivery of the deed or feoffment. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Deed, If I have sealed my deed, and after I deliver it to him to whom it is made, or to some other by his appointment, and say nothing, this is a good delivery. 1853 Wharton Pennsylv. Digest 261 Delivery is necessary to give effect to a bond.

  5. a. The act of sending forth or delivering (a missile, a blow, etc.); emission, discharge; throwing or bowling of a ball (at cricket, base-ball, etc.). Also, = ball n.¹ 4 c.

1702 Savery Miner's Friend 46 The delivery of your Water into a convenient Trough. 1787 Specif. Bryant's Patent No. 1631 Useful..by its much greater delivery of water. 1816 W. Lambert Instr. & Rules of Cricket 22 Very few Bowlers run alike before the delivery of the Ball. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 109 The peril..from the delivery of the spear. 1837 W. Martin Bk. of Sports 96 If the hand be above the shoulder in the delivery, the umpire must call ‘no ball’. 1868 J. Lillywhite Cricketers' Compan. 54 Mr. Jupp..played Southerton's ‘curly’ deliveries with consummate skill. 1882 Daily Tel. 19 May (Cricket), Crossland at 68 came on with his fast deliveries. 1960 J. Fingleton Four Chukkas 59 He thus played ‘doggo’ to 388 deliveries.

  b. Founding. See quot. (Cf. deliver v.¹ 12.)

1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Delivery (Founding), the draft or allowance by which a pattern is made to free itself from close lateral contact with the sand of the mold as it is lifted. Also called draw-taper.

  † 6. Free putting forth of bodily action, ‘use of the limbs, activity’ (J.); action, bearing, deportment. Obs.

a 1586 Sidney (J.), Musidorus could not.. deliver that strength more nimbly, or become the delivery more gracefully. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 127 Men..for their severall callings questionlesse of very good delivery. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 223 Observing simplicitie in the Messingers delivery and lookes. a 1639 Wotton (J.), The duke had the neater limbs, and freer delivery. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xxxii. 319 There is a great deal in a delivery, as it is called, in a way, a manner, a deportment, to engage people's attention and liking. 1818 Todd, Deliverness, agility..What we now term delivery.

fig. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) II. 177 It has the greatest freedom of pencil, the happiest delivery of nature.

  7. a. The utterance or enunciation (of words), the delivering (of a speech, etc.).

1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 58 All their force and vertue lyeth in the sweete deliverie of their wordes. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 37 His skill and delivery of forraigne languages [was] so wonderfull. 1665 Lloyd State Worthies (1670) 22 One thing he advised young men to take care of in their publick deliveries. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India III. ii. 68 Four days were occupied in the delivery of the speech. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Times II. xix. 57 The speech occupied some five hours in delivery.

  b. Manner of utterance or enunciation in public speaking or singing.

1667 Pepys Diary 19 May, Meriton..hath a strange knack of a grave, serious delivery. 1769 Johnson in Boswell Life an. 1781 (1848) 679/2 His delivery, though unconstrained, was not negligent. 1853 Holyoake Rudim. Public Speaking 13 The power of distinct and forcible pronunciation is the basis of delivery. 1892 Sat. Rev. 15 Oct. 443/1 Few men of his generation had a greater fund of talk or a more telling delivery.

  † 8. The action of setting forth in words, or that which is set forth; communication, narration, statement; = deliverance 7. Obs.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 22 The order hereafter to be observed in delivery of examples. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. ii. 10, I make a broken deliuerie of the Businesse. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. iv, Which enigmatical deliveries comprehended usefull verities. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxxvii. 145, I will forbear the delivery of many matters, that possibly might bring much contentment.

  9. attrib. and Comb.: delivery cart, delivery company, delivery date, delivery port, delivery system, delivery tube, delivery van, delivery wagon; delivery box, order (see quots.); delivery pipe, a pipe through which liquids are ejected, spec. from a pump; also, a service-pipe; delivery room, a room in a hospital in which a mother is delivered (of a child).

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Delivery box, the upper or delivery chamber of a series of two or three throw pumps, into which the liquid is lifted by the pistons and from which it is delivered.

1859 G. Measom Illustr. Guide Lanc. & Carlisle Railw. 115 (Advt.), Tradesmen's *Delivery Carts and Vans.

1856 Mrs. Gaskell Let. ?29 Apr. (1966) 388, I have just sent you off a parcel by the *Delivery Company.

1962 J. Braine Life at Top iv. 68, I started to worry about the Tiffield order again; Mottram was bound to talk about *delivery dates tomorrow. 1967 O. Wynd Walk Softly i. 8 It's run like a precision machine. Delivery dates are met.

1882 R. Bithell Counting-house Dict. 93 *Delivery order, a..document, entitling..the legal holder thereof, to the delivery of any goods..of the value of forty shillings, or upwards, lying in any dock, port, wharf, or warehouse. 1924 Times Trade & Engin. Suppl. 29 Nov. 245/1 Ownership in goods can be transferred by mere endorsement of a bill of lading or a delivery order... A delivery order, or formal request, signed by the owner of goods, that they be delivered to the firm or person named, or to ‘bearer’, must be lodged with the bill of lading or freight release. 1965 Perry & Ryder Thomson's Dict. Banking (ed. 11) 209/1 When delivery orders are taken as security, the banker's letter of lien..should be signed by the customer.

1870 Technol. Dict. (ed. 2) II. 176/1 *Delivery-pipe of a feed-pump (Locom.), Das Druckrohr, Tuyau de refoulement. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Delivery pipes, the series of pipes through which the liquids drawn up by pumping machinery are ejected. 1889 P. N. Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. 111 To connect the delivery-pipe union. 1895 Daily News 14 Sept. 5/1 It was noticed that this water had the power to dissolve the lead of the delivery pipes.

1720 *Delivery port [see sense 4].

1949 M. Mead Male & Female iii. 62 In our own society, our images of the..rituals of the *delivery-room..overlay any realization of what a shock birth is. 1967 Nursing Times 8 Sept. 1199/2 Once labour is established, the mother should be in a delivery room where in a normal confinement she will have her baby without any further move.

1961 Listener 28 Dec. 1098/2 This means developing nuclear weapons and *delivery systems so strong and so varied that no surprise attack could knock out the power to retaliate. 1967 Guardian 16 May 16/8 France..might..be interested..in the development of a European delivery system. 1968 Listener 19 Dec. 813/1 After the war, the Soviet Union had two defence priorities: the construction of nuclear weapons and delivery systems.

1879 Noad & Preece Electricity 221 The *delivery tube conducts the gases into a graduated receiver.

1868 Third Member for Birmingham 22 Oct. (Advt.), William Keel's, *delivery van. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 22 Feb. 11/1 For the purpose of manufacturing in England motor-cars, motor-omnibuses, and delivery-vans. 1907 Ibid. 21 Nov. 4/3 Delivered free by express motor delivery-van. 1960 Library Assoc. Rec. Aug. 262/2 Delivery van, a vehicle intended and adapted primarily for the transport of books in boxes or trays, and providing no facilities for the selection of books.

1882 G. W. Peck Peck's Fun 88 Smith took them [sc. the goods] out to put them in the *delivery wagon. 1889 Kansas Times & Star 14 Dec., The sign painted on one side of the delivery wagon going to the various schools with supplies.

Oxford English Dictionary