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Common sense tells me this construct should translate into something like this:

to leave something done.

Which is why the following example makes complete sense to me:

Nos dejó preparada la cena.

She left the dinner prepared for us.

However, I just came across this meaning in a SpanishDict tutorial:

to appoint something.

The website doesn't offer any example to illustrate this interpretation and I also tried looking everywhere but couldn't find any. Could someone please explain how dejar could translate into appoint in this construct, preferably with a few examples?

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  • Perhaps an example of "to appoint" is "dejar a cargo" (put someone in charge of something. "Maria dejó a Juan cuidando los niños"
    – DGaleano
    Aug 31, 2016 at 13:13
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    It says appoint something, not someone. Maybe like an inheritance? Someone dies and leaves his house to his son: Dejó la casa a su hijo.
    – Santiago Tórtora
    Aug 31, 2016 at 19:10
  • You can, for example, dejar dicho or dejar establecido a place or time for a meeting, as in one of the meanings of to appoint (sth). Maybe that is what the translation was intended to point out with dejar+participio (both dicho and establecido are participles, in fact).
    – Rafael
    Sep 1, 2016 at 16:22

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The main sense in which the English verb to appoint is used with a thing as object is in the sense of to nominate or arrange. The object would normally be a time or a date. So for example The society appointed the 20th October for the next meeting. Having said that it is a very old-fashioned formal usage. I think the sense in the DRAE of nombrar, designar must come close. Interestingly we do have as a current use the noun derived from the verb (appointment) as the thing you make with someone.

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