▪ I. deliberate, a.
(dɪˈlɪbərət)
[ad. L. dēlīberāt-us, pa. pple. of dēlīberāre: see deliber.]
1. Well weighed or considered; carefully thought out; formed, carried out, etc. with careful consideration and full intention; done of set purpose; studied; not hasty or rash.
| 1548 Hall Chron. 182 After..deliberate consultacion had among the peeres, prelates, and commons. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. iii. 9 This sodaine sending him away, must seeme Deliberate pause. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 554 Such as..in stead of rage Deliberate valour breath'd. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. III. lxi. 322 He seems not to have had any deliberate plan in all these alterations. 1848 Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. i. ii. §4. 13 The act is deliberate, and determined on beforehand, in direct defiance of reason. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. viii. 244 An impatience of control, a deliberate preference for disorder. |
b. Of persons: Characterized by deliberation; considering carefully; careful and slow in deciding; not hasty or rash.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ix. 80 O these deliberate fooles when they doe choose, They haue the wisdome by their wit to loose. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xix. 165 ‘I will tell you, sir’, replied the deliberate, unfeeling magistrate; ‘you are suspected of having’, etc. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §1. 450 Striving to be deliberate in speech. |
2. Leisurely, slow, not hurried: of movement or moving agents.
| a 1600 Hooker (J.), It is for virtuous considerations, that wisdom so far prevaileth with men as to make them desirous of slow and deliberate death. 1608–11 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows i. §18 There are three messengers of death: Casualty, Sickness, Age..The two first are suddaine, the last leasurely and deliberate. 1626 Bacon Sylva §252 Eccho's are some more sudden..Others are more deliberate, that is, giue more Space betweene the Voice and the Eccho. 1790 J. Bruce Source of Nile II. iii. 232 Sertza Denghel..drew up his army in the same deliberate manner in which he had crossed the Mareb. Mod. He is very deliberate in his movements. |
▪ II. deliberate, v.
(dɪˈlɪbəreɪt)
[f. L. dēlīberāt-, ppl. stem of dēlīberāre: see deliber and -ate. The pa. pple. was in early times deliberat, -ate, from L.: cf. prec.]
† 1. trans. To weigh in the mind; to consider carefully with a view to decision; to think over. Obs. (Now usually to deliberate upon: see 2.)
| a 1610 Healey Theophrastus, Unseasonableness (1636) 49 An unseasonable fellow..obtrudes his owne affaires to be deliberated and debated. 1611 Tourneur Ath. Trag. iii. i. Wks. 1878 I. 83 Leaue a little roome..For understanding to deliberate The cause or author of this accident. 1681 J. Salgado Symbiosis 14 A thing not to be deliberated. |
b. with obj. clause.
| 1555 Eden Decades 83 Deliberatinge therefore with my selfe, from whense these mountaynes..haue such great holowe caues or dennes. 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 28 The stone doth not deliberate whether it shall descend. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scotl. I. v. 371 She deliberated..how she might overcome the regent's scruples. 1829 W. Irving Conq. Granada I. x. 81 A council of war..where it was deliberated what was to be done with Alhama. |
2. intr. To use consideration with a view to decision; to think carefully; to pause or take time for consideration. Const. † of (obs.), on, upon, etc.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. Table Scripture Quot., The heart of man doth deliberate of his way. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. iii. 73 Please you deliberate a day or two. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 153 Two daies the King deliberated vpon an answer. 1697 Stillingfl. Serm. II. xi. (R.), If he had time to deliberate about it. 1713 Addison Cato iv. i, In spight of all the virtue we can boast The woman that deliberates is lost. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, Vivaldi shut himself up in his apartment to deliberate. 1894 Daily News 4 May 4/7 They [women] deliberate a great deal, now-a-days; we draw no unfriendly conclusion. |
b. Of a body of persons: To take counsel together, considering and examining the reasons for and against a proposal or course of action.
| 1552 Huloet, Deliberate or take aduice or counsayle, consulto. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 191 When therefore the Common-Council of any Town hath deliberated at home, concerning matters there proposed. 1745 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 11 To carry it home to their Council to deliberate upon. 1843 Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 145 The three crowned heads of the empire..deliberated with the other members on the respective merits of the pieces. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 28 The future relations of the two countries could now be deliberated on with a hope of settlement. |
† 3. To resolve, determine, conclude; pass. to be resolved or determined. Obs.
| 1550 Nicolls Thucyd. 187 (R.) They deliberated to constrayne theym to fighte by sea ymmediatly. 1582–8 Hist. James VI (1804) 260 He was deliberat to resigne his office. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. vi. 117, I am deliberated..to follow the most auncient, famous, and moderne Geographers. 1633 J. Done Hist. Septuagint 12, I have deliberated to frame unto you by Writing, a thing..well deserving to be knowne. |
Hence deˈliberating vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. ix, The all-wise purpose of a deliberating God. 1885 Athenæum 2 May 572/3 The deliberating expression of the student's countenance. |