De*liv"er*ance (?), n. [F.
délivrance, fr. délivrer.]
1. The act of delivering or freeing from
restraint, captivity, peril, and the like; rescue; as, the
deliverance of a captive.
He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives.
Luke iv.
18.
One death or one deliverance we will
share.
Dryden.
2. Act of bringing forth children.
[Archaic] Shak.
3. Act of speaking; utterance.
[Archaic] Shak.
&fist; In this and in the preceding sense delivery is the
word more commonly used.
4. The state of being delivered, or freed
from restraint.
I do desire deliverance from these
officers.
Shak.
5. Anything delivered or communicated; esp.,
an opinion or decision expressed publicly. [Scot.]
6. (Metaph.) Any fact or truth which
is decisively attested or intuitively known as a psychological or
philosophical datum; as, the deliverance of
consciousness.
