defalcate
verbUK [ˈdɛfəɫkeɪt]
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).
1
To misappropriate funds; to embezzle.
2
Obsolete To cut off (a part of something).
3
Obsolete 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:
- Derived terms
- defalcation, defalcator, undefalcated