Dictionary

defalcate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• [ˈdɛfəɫkeɪt] (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

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).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To misappropriate funds; to embezzle.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To cut off (a part of something).
3. (obsolete, transitive) To deduct or take away (a part of income, money, rents, etc.).
   • 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. 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 42:

Forms

Deriveds

undefalcated · defalcation · defalcator

Relateds

lop · falcate

Translations (8)

sq shpërdoroj (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · cs defraudovat (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · es desfalcar (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · bg злоупотребявам (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · ru расхища́ть (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · ru растра́чивать (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · fi kavaltaa (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle) · cs zpronevěřit (to misappropriate funds — see also embezzle)