delegate

noun

1. 1

   A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

2. 2

   A representative at a conference, etc.

3. 3

   An appointed representative in some legislative bodies.

4. 4

   A type of variable storing a reference to a method with a particular signature, analogous to a function pointer.

   Historically, all viable frameworks have always provided a mechanism to implement callbacks. C# goes one step further and encapsulates callbacks into callable objects called delegates.

5. 5

   A member of a governmental legislature who lacks voting power.

   The house of delegates in apartheid-era South Africa lacked any real voting power.

verb

1. 1

   To commit tasks and responsibilities to others, especially subordinates.

   New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was perceived to delegate effectively. Wayne Mapp, a minister under Key observed he had 'a different style than the traditional style of New Zealand political management. He delegates in the manner of a chief executive, and lets ministers get on with their jobs' (Mapp 2014).

2. 2

   To commit (a task or responsibility) to someone, especially a subordinate.

   The war on Covid-19 was delegated to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, a paralysed NHS and scientists publicly feuding over dud data.

3. 3

   To appoint (someone) as one's representative.

4. 4

   (of a subdomain) To give away authority over a subdomain; to allow someone else to create sub-subdomains of a subdomain of one's own.

adjective

1. 1

   obsoletedelegated

2. 2

   obsoleteActing as a delegate, delegated; of, pertaining to a delegate

Forms

plural

delegates

past tense

delegated

past participle

delegated

present participle

delegating

third person singular

delegates