Dictionary entry

Delegation

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Del′e‐ga″tion (?), n. [L. delegatio: cf. F. délégation.] 1. The act of delegating, or investing with authority to act for another; the appointment of a delegate or delegates.

2. One or more persons appointed or chosen, and commissioned to represent others, as in a convention, in Congress, etc.; the collective body of delegates; as, the delegation from Massachusetts; a deputation.

3. (Rom. Law) A kind of novation by which a debtor, to be liberated from his creditor, gives him a third person, who becomes obliged in his stead to the creditor, or to the person appointed by him. Pothier.