dē-lēgo — Lewis & Short
dē-lēgo, āvi, ātum, 1,
I v. a., to send, assign, dispatch, delegate a person to any place, person or business; to assign, confide, commit, intrust any thing to a person (for attention, care, protection, etc.); to charge a person with a business; to lay or impose upon a person any charge, order, business, command, etc., esp. of that which one prefers not to attend to in person (good prose; not in Caes.; perh. not in Cic.; v. the doubtful passage Cic. Fam. 7, 5, 2, and Orell. ad loc.).
I In gen.
A With personal objects:
si cui fautores delegatos viderint, etc.,Plaut. Am. prol. 67 and 83:
aliquem in Tullianum,Liv. 29, 22 fin.:
infantem ancillis ac nutricibus,Tac. G. 20; cf. id. Or. 29:
Cassium Longinum occidendum delegaverat,Suet. Calig. 57:
studiosos Catonis ad illud volumen delegamus,refer to, Nep. Cato 3 fin.:
ad senatum,Liv. 5, 20 fin.—
B With a thing as object: hunc laborem alteri delegavi, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 1; so,
curam nepotum alicui,Quint. 4 prooem. § 4:
officium alicui,id. 6 prooem. § 1:
ministerium triumviris,Tac. Agr. 2; cf.:
jurisdictionem magistratibus,Suet. Claud. 23:
ordinandas bibliothecas alicui,id. Caes. 56; cf. id. Gramm. 21:
obsidione delegata in curam collegae,Liv. 9, 13:
delegato sibi officio functi sunt,Lact. 1, 4, 6. —
II In partic., t. t. in the lang. of business, to assign, transfer, make over, either one who is to pay a debt or the debt itself: delegare est vice sua alium reum dare creditori, vel cui jusserit, Dig. 46, 2, 11:
debitorem,ib. 12:
debitores nobis deos,Sen. Ben. 4, 11; cf.:
delegabo te ad Epicurum, ab illo fiet numeratio,id. Ep. 18, 14:
nomen paterni debitoris,Dig. 37, 6, 1.— Absol.:
Quinto delegabo, si quid aeri meo alieno superabit,Cic. Att. 13, 46, 3:
Balbi regia condicio est delegandi,id. ib. 12, 12:
terram,to assign, Vulg. 3 Reg. 11, 18.—
B Trop., to attribute, impute, ascribe to:
si hoc crimen optimis nominibus delegare possumus,Cic. Font. 4, 8; so,
causam peccati mortuis,Hirt. B. G. 8, 22, 2:
scelera ipsa aliis,Tac. A. 13, 43:
omne rei bene aut secus gestae in Etruria decus dedecusque ad Volumnium,Liv. 10, 19; cf.:
servati consulis decus ad servum,id. 21, 46 fin.