Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.]