defalcate

1530s, in sense “to lop off”, from Medieval Latin dēfalcātus, perfect passive participle of dēfalcō (“cut or lop off”),[1] from Latin dē (“off”) + falx (“sickle, scythe, pruning hook”),[2] from which also English falcate (“sickle-shaped”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): [ˈdɛfəɫkeɪt]

defalcate (third-person singular simple present defalcates, present participle defalcating, simple past and past participle defalcated)

1. (transitive) To misappropriate funds; to embezzle.
2. (transitive) To cut off; to take away or deduct a part of (money, rents, income, etc.).
   • Burke

     To show what may be practicably and safely defalcated from the [the estimates].

• defalcation

• falcate

• lop

defalcate

1. second-person plural present indicative of defalcare
2. second-person plural imperative of defalcare