defalcate
English
editEtymology
edit1530s, in sense “to lop off”, from Medieval Latin dēfalcātus, perfect passive participle of dēfalcō (“cut or lop off”),[1] from Latin dē (“off”) + falx (“sickle, scythe, pruning hook”),[2] from which also English falcate (“sickle-shaped”).
Pronunciation
edit- (UK) IPA(key): [ˈdɛfəɫkeɪt]
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Verb
editdefalcate (third-person singular simple present defalcates, present participle defalcating, simple past and past participle defalcated)
- (intransitive) To misappropriate funds; to embezzle.
- (transitive, obsolete)
- To cut off (a part of something).
- To deduct or take away (a part of income, money, rents, etc.).
- 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 42:
- One would have thought the natural method in a plan of reformation vvould be, to take the preſent exiſting eſtimates as they ſtand; and then to ſhevv vvhat may be practicably and ſafely defalcated from them.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editto misappropriate funds — see also embezzle
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See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “defalcate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “defalcation”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Italian
editVerb
editdefalcate
- inflection of defalcare:
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