deliver

Formsdelivers, delivering, delivered

1. 1
   bring goodsverbtransitive or intransitive

   To bring or transport something, such as mail, goods, or food, to its destination.

   The courier delivered the documents to the law office by noon.

   Local farms deliver produce directly to restaurants across the city.

   UsageUsually deliver something to a person or place: deliver a package to a neighbor.

   Similarbring, take, carry, transport, convey

2. 2
   do as promisedverbtransitive or intransitive

   To produce the result that is expected or required.

   The contractor promised results and delivered a finished kitchen two weeks early.

   Investors will abandon any startup that fails to deliver.

   UsageOften used alone: it delivered. Deliver on names what was promised: deliver on a promise.

   Similarperform, succeed, produce

   Oppositefail, disappoint, underperform

   Note

   Results are what count, and in sport and politics this is the verb for them. "He really delivered," says Brown in the Detroit News book Detroit Pistons: Champions at Work (2004), and Liz Truss declared in 2022, "I am determined to deliver."

3. 3
   say formallyverbtransitive

   To express in words or speech; to declare or utter, as a speech, verdict, or line.

   The judge will deliver the verdict on Thursday morning.

   The comedian delivered the punchline with perfect timing.

   Similargive, pronounce, announce, utter, present

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To transfer possession or control of someone or something to another person or group.

   The treaty required the rebels to deliver their weapons to the peacekeepers.

   The kidnappers demanded a ransom before delivering the hostage to his family.

   UsageOften with to, into or over: deliver the keys to the owner, deliver someone into custody.

   Similarsurrender, hand, yield, relinquish

   Oppositeretain, keep, withhold

   Note

   The King James Bible of 1611 has "Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand," and Shakespeare's Second Part of Henry the Fourth has "The constables have delivered her over." Notice the reversal from the rescuing sense. There a person is set free; here a person may be handed into custody, as a thief is delivered to the police.

5. 5
   send with forceverbtransitive

   To give a blow, kick, or shock, or to throw or bowl a ball.

   The pitcher delivered a fastball low and inside.

   Stun guns deliver a brief electric shock on contact.

   Similarthrow, pitch, land, deal, give

   Note

   Here the verb is about force let go: a blow, a kick or a shock leaves its source and lands. The idea of release goes back to the Latin "set free" behind the rescuing sense. Walter Scott uses it of a bowler sending his bowl toward the jack, and sport keeps it busy: pitchers and bowlers both deliver. Philip Sidney stretched it further, to "delivering some show of tears". Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Deliver derives ultimately from Latin meaning 'to set free'. en.wiktionary.org
   • Walter Scott uses deliver for sending a bowl toward the jack; the example occurs in Doctor Dummerar's dialogue in Peveril of the Peak. gutenberg.org
   • Philip Sidney wrote 'delivering some show of tears', in the narration of Arcadia. gutenberg.org
6. 6
   rescueverbtransitive

   To set someone free from danger, captivity, or a burden; to rescue or release.

   Nothing, it seemed, could deliver him from the dread that settled over him every Sunday night.

   Only a swift ransom could deliver the merchant from his captors.

   UsageUsually deliver someone from something: delivered from her captors. It sounds stronger, more like rescue, than free.

   Similarrelease

   Note

   The sense the whole word starts from: Middle English deliveren, through Old French delivrer, from Latin dē + līberō, "to set free." The later meanings of handing over, giving birth and discharging can all be read as kinds of letting go.

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