Deliver: Carrying Something to Someone, and Setting Them Free
To deliver is to bring something to its recipient. It also means to produce a result, to give a speech, to assist at a birth, and in older English to set free.
Deliver looks like a word about parcels but its root is about liberation. Latin *liberare* means to set free, and the oldest English senses follow: delivering someone from danger, and delivering a baby, both release something that was held.
- To bring to a recipient. *The parcel was delivered on Tuesday.*
- To produce a promised result. *The team delivered on time.*
- To give a speech. *She delivered the keynote.*
- To assist at a birth. *The midwife delivered twins.*
- To rescue (archaic). *Deliver us from evil.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | deliver | Deliver by Friday. |
| Noun | delivery | Next-day delivery. |
| Person | deliverer | The deliverer of the message. |
| Noun | deliverance | Deliverance from danger. |
| Adjective | deliverable | The project deliverables. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The supplier failed to deliver.Used without an object — did not do what was promised.
- She delivered a powerful speech.Delivery here means the manner of speaking.
- Deliver us from evil.The old rescuing sense, preserved in the Lord's Prayer.
Delivery means several things
- Postal delivery — bringing goods to an address
- Delivery of a speech — the manner of speaking, not the content
- Delivery in cricket — a single ball bowled
- Delivery in childbirth — the birth itself
- Deliverables — business jargon for the outputs a project must produce
From Old French *delivrer*, from Late Latin *deliberare*, from *de* and *liberare*, to free. The parcel sense is the newest of the family and now the dominant one.
Deliver on or deliver?
Deliver on a promise or a commitment. Deliver alone can mean the same thing: *they did not deliver*.
Who delivers a baby?
Traditionally the midwife or doctor delivers, and the mother gives birth. Many people now say the mother delivers, and both are understood.