The third-person singular present tense of 'dele,' meaning to delete or mark for deletion in proofreading.
From Latin dele (imperative of delere, 'to destroy or delete'). In English printing and editing terminology, this Latin verb was adopted intact and conjugated according to English patterns, creating deles, deleted, deleing.
Proofreaders created their own miniature language of Latin imperatives—'dele' (delete), 'stet' (let it stand), 'transposse' (switch these)—which is why even modern editors must learn a dead language to do their jobs.
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