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deputize

[dep-yuh-tahyz]
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verb (used with object), dep·u·tized, dep·u·tiz·ing.
  1. to appoint as deputy.
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verb (used without object), dep·u·tized, dep·u·tiz·ing.
  1. to act as a deputy; substitute.
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Also especially British, dep·u·tise.

Origin of deputize

First recorded in 1720–30; deput(y) + -ize
Related formsdep·u·ti·za·tion, nounde-dep·u·tize, verb (used with object), de-dep·u·tized, de-dep·u·tiz·ing.un·dep·u·tized, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for deputize

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He bent his eyes on Bob: “Better get Brush to deputize you to make the arrest.”

    The Mountain Divide

    Frank H. Spearman

  • "All you got to do is to do what I deputize you to do," he said quietly.

    Anderson Crow, Detective

    George Barr McCutcheon

  • The Sheriff denied that he had promised to deputize the Pinkertons.

    Homestead

    Arthur G. Burgoyne

  • Now I deny that Congress can deputize its legislative powers.

  • Miss Pierson, I deputize you to gather up the stray sunbeams for me that memory may have a regal crown to wear when I am far away.

British Dictionary definitions for deputize

deputize

deputise

verb
  1. to appoint or act as deputy
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for deputize

v.

1730s; see deputy + -ize. Related: Deputized; deputizing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper