deletery

English

Etymology

From New Latin dēlētērius, from Ancient Greek δηλητήρῐος (dēlētḗrĭos).[1] Doublet of deleterious.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dəˈliːtəɹi/
  • Homophone: deletory

Noun

deletery (plural deleteries)

  1. (obsolete) destroyer.
    • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience in All Her General Measures; [], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: [] James Flesher, for Richard Royston [], →OCLC:
      They [the Scriptures] are [] the only deletery of heresies.

Translations

Adjective

deletery (comparative more deletery, superlative most deletery)

  1. (obsolete) Destructive, poisonous
    Synonym: deleterious.
    • 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:
      Nor engine, nor device polemic, / Disease, nor doctor epidemic, / Tho' stored with deletery med'cines, / Which whosoever took is dead since, / E'er sent so vast a colony / To both the under worlds as he.
    • 1880, Samuel G. Drake, The Aboriginal Races of North America:
      deletery effects of civilization

Translations

References

  1. ^ deletery, adj. and n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

-deletery”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.