Defalk transitive verb [ French défalquer . See Defalcate .] To lop off; to abate. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

Defamation noun [ Middle English diffamacioun , French diffamation . See Defame .] Act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the good name of another; slander; detraction; calumny; aspersion.

» In modern usage, written defamation bears the title of libel , and oral defamation that of slander . Burrill.

Defamatory adjective Containing defamation; injurious to reputation; calumnious; slanderous; as, defamatory words; defamatory writings.

Defame transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defamed ; present participle & verbal noun Defaming .] [ Middle English defamen , diffamen , from French diffamer , or Old French perhaps defamer , from Latin diffamare (cf. defamatus infamous); dis- (in this word confused with de ) + fama a report. See Fame .]
1. To harm or destroy the good fame or reputation of; to disgrace; especially, to speak evil of maliciously; to dishonor by slanderous reports; to calumniate; to asperse.

2. To render infamous; to bring into disrepute.

My guilt thy growing virtues did defame ;
My blackness blotted thy unblemish'd name.

Dryden.

3. To charge; to accuse. [ R.]

Rebecca is . . . defamed of sorcery practiced on the person of a noble knight.

Sir W. Scott.

Syn. -- To asperse; slander; calumniate; vilify. See Asperse .

Defame noun Dishonor. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Defamer noun One who defames; a slanderer; a detractor; a calumniator.

Defamingly adverb In a defamatory manner.

Defamous adjective Defamatory. [ Obsolete]

Defatigable adjective [ See Defatigate .] Capable of being wearied or tired out. [ R.] Glanvill.

Defatigate transitive verb [ Latin defatigatus , past participle of defatigare ; de- + fatigare to weary. See Fatigue .] To weary or tire out; to fatigue. [ R.] Sir T. Herbert.

Defatigation noun [ Latin defatigatio .] Weariness; fatigue. [ R.] Bacon.

Default noun [ Middle English defaute , Old French defaute , defalte , fem., French défaut , masc., Late Latin defalta , from a verb meaning, to be deficient, to want, fail, from Latin de- + fallere to deceive. See Fault .]
1. A failing or failure; omission of that which ought to be done; neglect to do what duty or law requires; as, this evil has happened through the governor's default .

2. Fault; offense; ill deed; wrong act; failure in virtue or wisdom.

And pardon craved for his so rash default .

Spenser.

Regardless of our merit or default .

Pope.

3. (Law) A neglect of, or failure to take, some step necessary to secure the benefit of law, as a failure to appear in court at a day assigned, especially of the defendant in a suit when called to make answer; also of jurors, witnesses, etc.

In default of , in case of failure or lack of.

Cooks could make artificial birds and fishes in default of the real ones.

Arbuthnot.

-- To suffer a default (Law) , to permit an action to be called without appearing to answer.

Default intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defaulted ; present participle & verbal noun Defaulting .]
1. To fail in duty; to offend.

That he gainst courtesy so foully did default .

Spenser.

2. To fail in fulfilling a contract, agreement, or duty.

3. To fail to appear in court; to let a case go by default.

Default transitive verb
1. To fail to perform or pay; to be guilty of neglect of; to omit; as, to default a dividend.

What they have defaulted towards him as no king.

Milton.

2. (Law) To call a defendant or other party whose duty it is to be present in court, and make entry of his default, if he fails to appear; to enter a default against.

3. To leave out of account; to omit. [ Obsolete]

Defaulting unnecessary and partial discourses.

Hales.

Defaulter noun
1. One who makes default; one who fails to appear in court when court when called.

2. One who fails to perform a duty; a delinquent; particularly, one who fails to account for public money intrusted to his care; a peculator; a defalcator.

Defeasance noun [ Old French defesance , from defesant , French défaisant , present participle of defaire , French défaire , to undo. See Defeat .]
1. A defeat; an overthrow. [ Obsolete]

After his foes' defeasance .

Spenser.

2. A rendering null or void.

3. (Law) A condition, relating to a deed, which being performed, the deed is defeated or rendered void; or a collateral deed, made at the same time with a feoffment, or other conveyance, containing conditions, on the performance of which the estate then created may be defeated.

» Mortgages were usually made in this manner in former times, but the modern practice is to include the conveyance and the defeasance in the same deed.

Defeasanced adjective (Law) Liable to defeasance; capable of being made void or forfeited.

Defeasible adjective [ See Defeasance .] Capable of being annulled or made void; as, a defeasible title. -- De*fea"si*ble*ness , noun

Defeat transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defeated ; present participle & verbal noun Defeating .] [ From French défait , Old French desfait , past participle ofe défaire , Old French desfaire , to undo; Latin dis- + facere to do. See Feat , Fact , and confer Disfashion .]
1. To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [ Obsolete]

His unkindness may defeat my life.

Shak.

2. To render null and void, as a title; to frustrate, as hope; to deprive, as of an estate.

He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes.

Tillotson.

The escheators . . . defeated the right heir of his succession.

Hallam.

In one instance he defeated his own purpose.

A. W. Ward.

3. To overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow.

4. To resist with success; as, to defeat an assault.

Sharp reasons to defeat the law.

Shak.

Syn. -- To baffle; disappoint; frustrate.

Defeat noun [ Confer French défaite , from défaire . See Defeat , v. ]
1. An undoing or annulling; destruction. [ Obsolete]

Upon whose property and most dear life
A damned defeat was made.

Shak.

2. Frustration by rendering null and void, or by prevention of success; as, the defeat of a plan or design.

3. An overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; -- opposed to victory .

Defeature noun [ Old French desfaiture a killing, disguising, prop., an undoing. See Defeat , and confer Disfeature .]
1. Overthrow; defeat. [ Obsolete] "Nothing but loss in their defeature ." Beau. & Fl.

2. Disfigurement; deformity. [ Obsolete] "Strange defeatures in my face." Shak.

Defeatured past participle Changed in features; deformed. [ R.]

Features when defeatured in the . . . way I have described.

De Quincey.

Defecate adjective [ Latin defaecatus , past participle of defaecare to defecate; de- + faex , faecis , dregs, lees.] Freed from anything that can pollute, as dregs, lees, etc.; refined; purified.

Till the soul be defecate from the dregs of sense.

Bates.

Defecate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defecated ; present participle & verbal noun Defecating .]
1. To clear from impurities, as lees, dregs, etc.; to clarify; to purify; to refine.

To defecate the dark and muddy oil of amber.

Boyle.

2. To free from extraneous or polluting matter; to clear; to purify, as from that which materializes.

We defecate the notion from materiality.

Glanvill.

Defecated from all the impurities of sense.

Bp. Warburton.

Defecate intransitive verb
1. To become clear, pure, or free. Goldsmith.

2. To void excrement.

Defecation noun [ Latin defaecatio : confer French défécation .]
1. The act of separating from impurities, as lees or dregs; purification.

2. (Physiol.) The act or process of voiding excrement.

Defecator noun That which cleanses or purifies; esp., an apparatus for removing the feculencies of juices and sirups. Knight.

Defect noun [ Latin defectus , from deficere , defectum , to desert, fail, be wanting; de- + facere to make, do. See Fact , Feat , and confer Deficit .]
1. Want or absence of something necessary for completeness or perfection; deficiency; -- opposed to superfluity .

Errors have been corrected, and defects supplied.

Davies.

2. Failing; fault; imperfection, whether physical or moral; blemish; as, a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment.

Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know,
Make use of every friend -- and every foe.

Pope.

Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects .

Macaulay.

Syn. -- Deficiency; imperfection; blemish. See Fault .

Defect intransitive verb To fail; to become deficient. [ Obsolete] " Defected honor." Warner.

Defect transitive verb To injure; to damage. "None can my life defect ." [ R.] Troubles of Q. Elizabeth (1639).

Defectibility noun Deficiency; imperfection. [ R.] Ld. Digby. Jer. Taylor.

Defectible adjective Liable to defect; imperfect. [ R.] "A defectible understanding." Jer. Taylor.

Defection noun [ Latin defectio : confer French défection . See Defect .] Act of abandoning a person or cause to which one is bound by allegiance or duty, or to which one has attached himself; desertion; failure in duty; a falling away; apostasy; backsliding. " Defection and falling away from God." Sir W. Raleigh.

The general defection of the whole realm.

Sir J. Davies.

Defectionist noun One who advocates or encourages defection.

Defectious adjective Having defects; imperfect. [ Obsolete] "Some one defectious piece." Sir P. Sidney.

Defective adjective [ Latin defectivus : confer French défectif . See Defect .]
1. Wanting in something; incomplete; lacking a part; deficient; imperfect; faulty; -- applied either to natural or moral qualities; as, a defective limb; defective timber; a defective copy or account; a defective character; defective rules.

2. (Gram.) Lacking some of the usual forms of declension or conjugation; as, a defective noun or verb. -- De*fect"ive*ly , adverb -- De*fect"ive*ness , noun

Defective noun
1. Anything that is defective or lacking in some respect.

2. (Medicine) One who is lacking physically or mentally.

» Under the term defectives are included deaf-mutes, the blind, the feeble-minded, the insane, and sometimes, esp. in criminology, criminals and paupers.

Defectuosity noun [ Confer French défectuosité .] Great imperfection. [ Obsolete] W. Montagu.

Defectuous adjective [ Confer French défectueux .] Full of defects; imperfect. [ Obsolete] Barrow.

Defedation noun [ Latin defoedare , defoedatum , to defile; de- + foedare to foul, foedus foul.] The act of making foul; pollution. [ Obsolete]

Defence (de*fĕns") noun & transitive verb See Defense .

Defend (de*fĕnd") transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defended ; present participle & verbal noun Defending .] [ French défendre , Latin defendere ; de- + fendere (only in comp.) to strike; perhaps akin to Greek qei`nein to strike, and English dint . Confer Dint , Defense , Fend .]
1. To ward or fend off; to drive back or away; to repel. [ A Latinism & Obsolete]

Th' other strove for to defend
The force of Vulcan with his might and main.

Spenser.

2. To prohibit; to forbid. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Which God defend that I should wring from him.

Shak.

3. To repel danger or harm from; to protect; to secure against attack; to maintain against force or argument; to uphold; to guard; as, to defend a town; to defend a cause; to defend character; to defend the absent; -- sometimes followed by from or against ; as, to defend one's self from , or against , one's enemies.

The lord mayor craves aid . . . to defend the city.

Shak.

God defend the right!

Shak.

A village near it was defended by the river.

Clarendon.

4. (Law.) To deny the right of the plaintiff in regard to (the suit, or the wrong charged); to oppose or resist, as a claim at law; to contest, as a suit. Burrill.

Syn. -- To Defend , Protect . To defend is literally to ward off; to protect is to cover so as to secure against approaching danger. We defend those who are attacked; we protect those who are liable to injury or invasion. A fortress is defended by its guns, and protected by its wall.

As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it.

Is. xxxi. 5.

Leave not the faithful side
That gave thee being, still shades thee and protects .

Milton.

Defendable (de*fĕnd"ȧ*b'l) adjective [ Confer French défendable .] Capable of being defended; defensible. [ R.]

Defendant (a a nt) adjective [ French défendant , present participle of défendre . See Defend .]
1. Serving, or suitable, for defense; defensive. [ Obsolete]

With men of courage and with means defendant .

Shak.

2. Making defense.

Defendant noun
1. One who defends; a defender.

The rampiers and ditches which the defendants had cast up.

Spotswood.

2. (Law) A person required to make answer in an action or suit; -- opposed to plaintiff . Abbott.

» The term is applied to any party of whom a demand is made in court, whether the party denies and defends the claim, or admits it, and suffers a default; also to a party charged with a criminal offense.

Defendee (de`fĕn*dē" or de*fĕnd"ē`) noun One who is defended. [ R. & Ludicrous]

Defender (de*fĕnd"ẽr) noun [ Confer Fender .] One who defends; one who maintains, supports, protects, or vindicates; a champion; an advocate; a vindicator.

Provinces . . . left without their ancient and puissant defenders .

Motley.

Defendress noun A female defender. [ R.]

Defendress of the faith.

Stow.

Defensative noun [ Latin defensare , defensatum , to defend diligently, intens. of defendere . See Defend .] That which serves to protect or defend.

Defense transitive verb To furnish with defenses; to fortify. [ Obsolete] [ Written also defence .]

Better manned and more strongly defensed .

Hales.