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Defalcate

/[ˈdɛfəɫkeɪt]/ verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To misappropriate funds; to embezzle. intransitive
  2. 2
    appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use wordnet
  3. 3
    To cut off (a part of something). obsolete, transitive
  4. 4
    To deduct or take away (a part of income, money, rents, etc.). obsolete, transitive

    "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."

Etymology

First attested in the 1530s, in the sense “to lop off”; borrowed from Medieval Latin dēfalcātus, perfect passive participle of dēfalcō (“to cut or lop off”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin dē (“off”) + falx (“sickle, scythe, pruning hook”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

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