Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-FENSE', v.t. [defens'.]

To defend by fortification. [Obs.] Fairfax.

DE-FENS'ED, pp.

Fortified.

DE-FENSE'LESS, a. [defens'less.]

Being without defense, or without means of repelling assault or injury; applied to a town, it denotes unfortified or ungarrisoned; open to an enemy; applied to a person, it denotes naked; unarmed; unprotected; unprepared to resist attack; weak; unable to oppose; uncovered; unsheltered.

DE-FENSE'LESS-NESS, n. [defens'lessness.]

The state of being unguarded or unprotected.

DE-FENS'I-BLE, a.

1. That may be defended; as, a defensible city.
2. That may be vindicated, maintained, or justified; as, a defensible cause.

DE-FENS'IVE, a. [Fr. defensif.]

1. That serves to defend; proper for defense; as, defensive armor, which repels attacks or blows, opposed to offensive arms, which are used in attack.
2. Carried on in resisting attack or aggression; as, defensive war, in distinction from offensive war, which is aggressive.
3. In a state or posture to defend. Milton.

DE-FENS'IVE, n.

Safeguard; that which defends. Wars preventive, upon just fears, are true defensives. Bacon. To be on the defensive, or to stand on the defensive, is to be or stand in the state or posture of defense or resistance, in opposition to aggression or attack.

DE-FENS'IVE-LY, adv.

In a defensive manner; on the defensive; in defense.

DE-FER', v.i.

To yield to another's opinion; to submit in opinion; as, he defers to the opinion of his father.

DE-FER', v.t. [L. differo; dis, from, and fero, to bear.]

1. To delay; to put off; to postpone to a future time; as, to defer the execution of a design. When thou vowest a vow, defer not to pay it. Eccles. v. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. Prov. xiii.
2. To refer; to leave to another's judgment and determination. Bacon. [In this sense, Refer is now used.]

DEF'ER-ENCE, n.

1. A yielding in opinion; submission of judgment to the opinion or judgment of another. Hence, regard; respect. We often decline acting in opposition to those for whose wisdom we have a great deference.
2. Complaisance; condescension. Locke.
3. Submission. Addison.

DEF'ER-ENT, a.

Bearing; carrying; conveying. [Little used.] Bacon.

DEF'ER-ENT, n.

1. That which carries or conveys. The deferent of a planet, is an imaginary circle or orb in the Ptolemaic system, that is supposed to carry about the body of the planet. Bailey.
2. A vessel in the human body for the conveyance of fluids. Chambers.

DEF-ER-EN'TIAL, a.

Expressing deference.

DE-FER'MENT, n.

Delay. Suckling.

DE-FER'RED, pp.

Delayed; postponed.

DE-FER'RER, n.

One who delays or puts off. B. Jonson.

DE-FER'RING, ppr.

Delaying; postponing.

DE-FI'ANCE, n. [French, in a different sense. See Defy.]

1. A daring; a challenge to fight; invitation to combat; a call to an adversary to encounter, if he dare. Goliath bid defiance to the army of Israel.
2. A challenge to meet in any contest; a call upon one to make good any assertion or charge; an invitation to maintain any cause or point.
3. Contempt of opposition or danger; a daring or resistance that implies the contempt of an adversary, or of any opposing power. Men often transgress the law, and act in defiance of authority.

DE-FI'A-TO-RY, a.

Bidding or bearing defiance. Shelford.

DE-FI'CIEN-CY, or DE-FI'CIENCE, n. [L. deficiens, from deficio, to fail, de and facio, to do.]

1. A failing; a falling short; imperfection; as, a deficiency in moral duties.
2. Want; defect; something less than is necessary; as, a deficiency of means; a deficiency of revenue; a deficiency of blood.

DE-FI'CIENT, a.

1. Wanting; defective; imperfect; not sufficient or adequate; as, deficient estate; deficient strength.
2. Wanting; not having a full or adequate supply; as, the country may be deficient in the means of carrying on war. Deficient numbers, in arithmetic, are those numbers, whose parts, added together, make less than the integer, whose parts they are. Johnson.

DE-FI'CIENT-LY, adv.

In a defective manner.

DEF'I-CIT, n.

Want; deficiency; as, a deficit in the taxes or revenue.

DE-FI'ED, pp.

Challenged; dared to combat.