Definition of "delegate"

delegate

/ˈdɛlɪɡət/

noun
plural delegates
1. A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.
2. A representative at a conference, etc.
3. (US) An appointed representative in some legislative bodies.
4. (computing) A type of variable storing a reference to a method with a particular signature, analogous to a function pointer.
  Quotations
  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.
  2010, Trey Nash, Accelerated C# 2010, page xxvi
5. A member of a governmental legislature who lacks voting power.
verb
third-person singular simple present delegates, present participle delegating, simple past and past participle delegated
1. (intransitive) To commit tasks and responsibilities to others, especially subordinates.
  Quotations
  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).
  2020, Jennifer Lees-Marshment, Political Management: The Dance of Government and Politics
2. (transitive) To commit (a task or responsibility) to someone, especially a subordinate.
  Quotations
  The war on Covid-19 was delegated to the health secretary, Matt Hancock, a paralysed NHS and scientists publicly feuding over dud data.
  2020 July 20, Simon Jenkins, “Britain deserves better than an Old Etonian Donald Trump”, in The Guardian‎
3. (computing, Internet, transitive) (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.