delete
v.v. to remove something that has been written or stored on a computer. You use this when you get rid of a file, a photo, or a message.
v. to remove or erase recorded information, especially from a computer's memory or a digital document. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the data being removed.
I need to delete these old emails to save space.
Be careful not to delete the final version of the report before you have made a backup copy.
The system is programmed to delete temporary files automatically after thirty days to ensure the server maintains optimal processing speeds and storage capacity.
From Latin dēlētus, past participle of dēlēre (“destroy, blot out, efface”), from dēlēvī, originally perf. tense of dēlinere (“to daub, erase by smudging”), from dē- (“from, away”) + linere (“to smear, wipe”). Original sense first appears c. 1495. In common use for ordering the absence of features of products (such as automobiles) in the 1960s. The computing sense, including the noun form, first appears c. 1977 in Software: Practice & Experience. Not related to deleterious. Doublet of delible and deleble.
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object.
I deleted out the fileI deleted the fileDelete is a single verb, not a phrasal verb; it does not require 'out' or 'away'.