dē-lēgo, āvi, ātum, 1, 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. § 2: 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.