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A.Word.A.Day--delate

This week's theme: words that appear to be misspellings.

delate (di-LAYT) verb tr.

To report (an offense), denounce, or accuse.

[From Latin delatus, past participle of deferre (to bring down, accuse, or report), from de- + ferre (to bear), which is ultimately from the Indo-European root bher- (to carry, to bear children) that gave birth to words such as basket, suffer, fertile, burden, bring, bear, offer, prefer, and birth.]

"But how would the papal spies, who were present in every audience, delate him [Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli]?"
Thomas Cahill; Pope John XXIII (biography); Viking; 2002.

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