To take securities from an individual or firm and transfer them to another individual or firm. A call writer who is assigned must deliver stock to the call holder who exercised. A put holder who exercises must deliver stock to the put writer who is assigned.
Delivery: The process of satisfying an equity call assignment or an equity put exercise. In either case, stock is delivered. For futures, the process of transferring the physical commodity from the seller of the futures contract to the buyer. Equivalent delivery refers to a situation in which delivery may be made in any of various, similar entities that are equivalent to each other (for example, Treasury bonds with differing coupon rates).
Physical Delivery Option: An option whose underlying entity is a physical good or commodity, like a common stock or a foreign currency. When that option is exercised by its owner, there is delivery of that physical good or commodity from one brokerage or trading account to another.