delete

present singular third person deletes · participle present deleting · participle past deleted · past deleted

1. transitiveTo remove, get rid of or erase, especially written or printed material, or data on a computer or other device.First known use 1600s

   1 more example

   Early on in the model year [1968] Pontiac experienced some production problems [in producing polyurethane bumpers] regarding fit, matching paint color, and bonding the material to the base metal. As a result, 2,108 1968 GTOs left the factory with chrome bumpers borrowed from the LeMans. These cars had a special option on their order sheets called "Endura bumper delete." Everyone wanted the Endura bumpers and no one ordered that option of his or her own free will. As soon as Pontiac worked out the production problems the chrome bumpers disappeared for good and "Endura bumper delete" disappeared from the option list.

   2009, Darwin Holmstrom, “Chapter 4: a maturing car for a maturing audience”, in GTO: Pontiac's Great One, Crestline Books, →ISBN, page 166

   Synonyms: erase, clear, strike, terminate, remove · Antonyms: insert, maintain, restore, stet

   1. transitivemusic industryTo remove from a record label's catalog so that it is out of print.

      Synonyms: erase, clear, strike, terminate, remove · Antonyms: insert, maintain, restore, stet

2. InternetslanggamesTo defeat or dominate.

   Also I got deleted by a rogue and druid who were both invisible and just popped up and cleaned me.

   2020 November 20, “Enhance Arena positioning”, in Blizzard Forums (US)

3. slangtransitiveTo kill or murder.

   "Go find this guy, Alex," Conch had said. "And delete him."

   2008, Ted Bell, Assassin

   3 more examples

   "[…]The less we discover about him, the more we are convinced he needs to be deleted..." […] "Yes. In other words I kill a terrorist, right?"

   2013, Tim Corkery, Funny to Horror: Short Stories

   I'm a forty-something psychopath who thinks he has the right to delete anyone he sees fit.

   2015, Shane Kuhn, The Intern's Handbook, page 220

   She either felt pity for him and put him out of pain, a ridiculous, untrue solution for pity and sorrow are delusions, or she was part of his triangle had to delete him before he spoke again, he had to be silenced.

   2017, Bill Dixon, Dragonfire: A New World of Poems and Stories

plural deletes

1. computingA deletion.

   Cascading updates and cascading deletes are useful features of the SQL Server database engine.

   2003, Jeffrey P. McManus, Jackie Goldstein, Kevin T. Price, Database Access with Visual Basic .NET, page 30

2. recorded entertainment industryA remainder of a music or video release.

   One CRIA official pegs the total record sales of deletes and imports as high as 30 percent for 1976

   1977 October 29, Billboard, volume 89, number 43, page 57

   2 more examples

   The industry also continues to discuss how the new GATT will serve to prevent a flood of deletes into the market

   1984 December 1, Billboard, volume 96, number 48, page 68

   Brian Robertson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Assn. (CRIA), says the flood of deletes could be more harmful than the last wave […]

   1985 February 9, Billboard, volume 97, number 6, page 38

3. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of Delete.
4. computingThe delete character (U+007F or %7F).

plural Deletes · alternative Del · alternative delete

1. computingA key that may be pressed to delete something (such as text or files) from a computer. The key also erases text from left to right, unlike the backspace key.