deliver
Definitions
To take goods, letters, etc. to a person or place
递送，投递（货物、信件等）
To give a speech, lecture, or formal statement to an audience
发表（演讲、讲座、正式声明）
To produce or provide what is promised or expected
兑现，拿出（承诺或预期的成果）
To help a woman give birth; to be born (formal)
接生；分娩（正式）
To rescue or set free from danger or evil (formal/literary)
解救，使脱离（危险或邪恶）（正式/文学）
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedde- (thoroughly, away) + liber (from līberāre, set free) = 'to set completely free.' That original 'release' still lives inside every modern sense: hand goods over (release them to you), deliver a baby (free it from the womb), deliver a speech (let the words out), deliver from evil (rescue). The everyday courier meaning is just the most common branch of an old verb meaning 'make free.'
Root lib still carries 6 more wordsWhy It Means This
Deliver is the family's hidden member. It comes from Latin dē- + līberāre, 'to set completely free,' so at heart it means 'let something go.' Watch the same image move across its senses: you free the parcel into someone's hands, free a baby into the world, free your words to an audience, free a person from danger. Once you see 'release' under all of them, the scattered meanings click into one.
Usage Guide
- Logistics (most common): deliver a package / mail / pizza.
- Public speaking: deliver a speech / lecture / verdict — present formally to others.
- Results (business): 'deliver on a promise,' or absolute 'the team delivered' = produced what was expected.
- Childbirth: a doctor delivers a baby; a mother is 'delivered of' a child (formal).
- Rescue (formal/religious): deliver someone from evil/danger.
Note: as a noun use delivery, not 'deliver.'
Example Sentences
- 1.
The courier will deliver the parcel before noon.
- 2.
She delivered an inspiring speech at the ceremony.
- 3.
The new manager promised results and actually delivered.
- 4.
The doctor safely delivered the baby at midnight.
- 5.
Deliver us from evil, the prayer says.
Easily Confused
deliver vs send — send is just dispatching from your end (I'll send the file); deliver focuses on it actually arriving in the recipient's hands (the courier delivered it). You send something off; it gets delivered to its destination.