delegation

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of delegating.
2. n. The condition of being delegated.
3. n. A person or group of persons officially elected or appointed to represent another or others.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A sending or deputing; the act of putting in commission, or investing with authority to act for another; the appointment of a delegate.
2. n. A person or body of persons deputed to act for another or for others; specifically, in the United States, the whole body of men who represent a single district or State in a representative assembly.
3. n. In Austria-Hungary, one of two bodies summoned annually by the emperor to legislate on matters pertaining to the whole empire. One delegation is chosen by the Austrian Reichsrath, the other by the Hungarian Reichstag, and each consists of sixty members.
4. n. In civil law, the act by which a debtor, in order to be freed from his debt, offers in his stead to the creditor another person, who binds himself for the debt. The delegation is said to be perfect, when the delegating debtor is discharged by his creditor, imperfect when the creditor retains his rights against his original debtor.
5. n. In French usage, a share certificate.
6. n. In banking, an informal and non-negotiable letter employed by bankers for the transfer of a debt or credit.

Wiktionary

1. n. An act of delegating.
2. n. A group of delegates used to discuss issues with an opponent.
3. n. computing : A method dispatching technique describing the lookup and inheritance rules for self-referential calls.
4. n. law : A contract whereby the original debtor substitutes a new debtor in his stead, with the creditor’s permission.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of delegating, or investing with authority to act for another; the appointment of a delegate or delegates.
2. n. One or more persons appointed or chosen, and commissioned to represent others, as in a convention, in Congress, etc.; the collective body of delegates; ; a deputation.
3. n. (Rom. Law) A kind of novation by which a debtor, to be liberated from his creditor, gives him a third person, who becomes obliged in his stead to the creditor, or to the person appointed by him.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a group of representatives or delegates
2. n. authorizing subordinates to make certain decisions