Defensibility De·fen`si·bil"i·ty noun Capability of being defended.

Defensible De·fen"si·ble adjective [ Confer French défensable , Late Latin defensabilis , defensibilis . See Defense , and confer Defendable .] 1. Capable of being defended; as, a defensible city, or a defensible cause.

2. Capable of offering defense. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Defensibleness De·fen"si·ble·ness noun Capability of being defended; defensibility. Priestley.

Defensive De·fen"sive adjective [ Confer French défensif .] 1. Serving to defend or protect; proper for defense; opposed to offensive ; as, defensive armor.

A moat defensive to a house.

Shak.

2. Carried on by resisting attack or aggression; -- opposed to offensive ; as, defensive war.

3. In a state or posture of defense. Milton.

Defensive De·fen"sive noun That which defends; a safeguard.

Wars preventive, upon just fears, are true defensives .

Bacon.

To be on the defensive , To stand on the defensive , to be or stand in a state or posture of defense or resistance, in opposition to aggression or attack.

Defensively De·fen"sive·ly adverb On the defensive.

Defensor De·fen"sor noun [ Latin See Defenser .] 1. A defender. Fabyan.

2. (Law) A defender or an advocate in court; a guardian or protector.

3. (Eccl.) The patron of a church; an officer having charge of the temporal affairs of a church.

Defensory De·fen"so·ry adjective [ Latin defensorius .] Tending to defend; defensive; as, defensory preparations.

Defer De·fer" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Deferred ; present participle & verbal noun Deferring .] [ Middle English differren , French différer , from Latin differre to delay, bear different ways; dis- + ferre to bear. See Bear to support, and confer Differ , Defer to offer.] To put off; to postpone to a future time; to delay the execution of; to delay; to withhold.

Defer the spoil of the city until night.

Shak.

God . . . will not long defer
To vindicate the glory of his name.

Milton.

Defer De·fer" intransitive verb To put off; to delay to act; to wait.

Pius was able to defer and temporize at leisure.

J. A. Symonds.

Defer De·fer" transitive verb [ French déférer to pay deference, to yield, to bring before a judge, from Latin deferre to bring down; de- + ferre to bear. See Bear to support, and confer Defer to delay, Delate .] 1. To render or offer. [ Obsolete]

Worship deferred to the Virgin.

Brevint.

2. To lay before; to submit in a respectful manner; to refer; -- with to .

Hereupon the commissioners . . . deferred the matter to the Earl of Northumberland.

Bacon.

Defer De·fer" intransitive verb To yield deference to the wishes of another; to submit to the opinion of another, or to authority; -- with to .

The house, deferring to legal right, acquiesced.

Bancroft.

Deference Def"er·ence noun [ French déférence . See 3d Defer .] A yielding of judgment or preference from respect to the wishes or opinion of another; submission in opinion; regard; respect; complaisance.

Deference to the authority of thoughtful and sagacious men.

Whewell.

Deference is the most complicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant of all compliments.

Shenstone.

Syn. -- Deference , Reverence , Respect . Deference marks an inclination to yield one's opinion, and to acquiesce in the sentiments of another in preference to one's own. Respect marks the estimation that we have for another, which makes us look to him as worthy of high confidence for the qualities of his mind and heart. Reverence denotes a mingling of fear with a high degree of respect and esteem. Age, rank, dignity, and personal merit call for deference ; respect should be paid to the wise and good; reverence is due to God, to the authors of our being, and to the sanctity of the laws.

Deferent Def"er·ent adjective [ Latin deferens , present participle of deferre . See 3d Defer .] Serving to carry; bearing. [ R.] "Bodies deferent ." Bacon.

Deferent Def"er·ent noun 1. That which carries or conveys.

Though air be the most favorable deferent of sounds.

Bacon.

2. (Ptolemaic Astron.) An imaginary circle surrounding the earth, in whose periphery either the heavenly body or the center of the heavenly body's epicycle was supposed to be carried round.

Deferential Def`er·en"tial adjective [ See Deference .] Expressing deference; accustomed to defer.

Deferentially Def`er·en"tial·ly adverb With deference.

Deferment De·fer"ment noun [ See 1st Defer .] The act of delaying; postponement. [ R.]

My grief, joined with the instant business,
Begs a deferment .

Suckling.

Deferrer De·fer"rer noun One who defers or puts off.

Defervescence, Defervescency De`fer·ves"cence, De`fer·ves"cency noun [ Latin defervescere to grow cool.] 1. A subsiding from a state of ebullition; loss of heat; lukewarmness.

A defervescency in holy actions.

Jer. Taylor.

2. (Medicine) The subsidence of a febrile process; as, the stage of defervescence in pneumonia.

Defeudalize De·feu"dal·ize transitive verb To deprive of the feudal character or form.

Defiance De·fi"ance noun [ Old French defiance , desfiance , challenge, from desfier to challenge, French défier . See Defy .] 1. The act of defying, putting in opposition, or provoking to combat; a challenge; a provocation; a summons to combat.

A war without a just defiance made.

Dryden.

Stood for her cause, and flung defiance down.

Tennyson.

2. A state of opposition; willingness to flight; disposition to resist; contempt of opposition.

He breathed defiance to my ears.

Shak.

3. A casting aside; renunciation; rejection. [ Obsolete] " Defiance to thy kindness." Ford.

To bid defiance , To set at defiance , to defy; to disregard recklessly or contemptuously. Locke.

Defiant De·fi"ant adjective [ Confer French défiant , present participle of défier . See Defy .] Full of defiance; bold; insolent; as, a defiant spirit or act.

In attitude stern and defiant .

Longfellow.

-- De*fi"ant*ly , adverb -- De*fi"ant*ness , noun

Defiatory De·fi"a·to·ry adjective [ See Defy .] Bidding or manifesting defiance. [ Obsolete] Shelford.

Defibrinate De·fi"bri·nate transitive verb To deprive of fibrin, as fresh blood or lymph by stirring with twigs.

Defibrination De·fi`bri·na"tion noun The act or process of depriving of fibrin.

Defibrinize De·fi"bri·nize transitive verb To defibrinate.

Deficience De·fi"cience noun Same as Deficiency .

Thou in thyself art perfect, and in thee
Is no deficience found.

Milton.

Deficiency De·fi"cien·cy noun ; plural Deficiencies . [ See Deficient .] The state of being deficient; inadequacy; want; failure; imperfection; shortcoming; defect. "A deficiency of blood." Arbuthnot.

[ Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries.

Buckle.

Deficiency of a curve (Geom.) , the amount by which the number of double points on a curve is short of the maximum for curves of the same degree.

Deficient De·fi"cient adjective [ Latin deficiens , -entis , present participle of deficere to be wanting. See Defect .] Wanting, to make up completeness; wanting, as regards a requirement; not sufficient; inadequate; defective; imperfect; incomplete; lacking; as, deficient parts; deficient estate; deficient strength; deficient in judgment.

The style was indeed deficient in ease and variety.

Macaulay.

Deficient number . (Arith.) See under Abundant .

-- De*fi"cient-ly , adverb

Deficit Def"i·cit noun [ Lit., it is wanting , 3d person present indic. of Latin deficere , confer French déficit . See Defect .] Deficiency in amount or quality; a falling short; lack; as, a deficit in taxes, revenue, etc. Addison.

Defier De·fi"er noun [ See Defy .] One who dares and defies; a contemner; as, a defier of the laws.

Defiguration De·fig`u·ra"tion noun Disfiguration; mutilation. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Defigure De·fig"ure transitive verb [ Prefix de- (intens.) + figure .] To delineate. [ Obsolete]

These two stones as they are here defigured .

Weever.

Defilade De`fi·lade" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defiladed ; present participle & verbal noun Defilading .] [ Confer French défiler to defile, and défilade act of defiling. See 1st Defile .] (Mil.) To raise, as a rampart, so as to shelter interior works commanded from some higher point.

Defilading De`fi·lad"ing noun (Mil.) The art or act of determining the directions and heights of the lines of rampart with reference to the protection of the interior from exposure to an enemy's fire from any point within range, or from any works which may be erected. Farrow.

Defile De·file" (de*fīl") intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defiled (-fīld"); present participle & verbal noun Defiling .] [ French défiler ; prefix dé- , for des- (L. dis- ) + file a row or line. See File a row.] To march off in a line, file by file; to file off.

Defile De·file" transitive verb (Mil.) Same as Defilade .

Defile De·file" (de*fīl" or dē"fīl; 277) noun [ Confer French défilé , from défiler to defile.] 1. Any narrow passage or gorge in which troops can march only in a file, or with a narrow front; a long, narrow pass between hills, rocks, etc.

2. (Mil.) The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. See Defilade .

Defile De·file" (de*fīl") transitive verb [ Middle English defoulen , -foilen , to tread down, Old French defouler ; de- + fouler to trample (see Full , transitive verb ), and Middle English defoulen to foul (influenced in form by the older verb defoilen ). See File to defile, Foul , Defoul .] 1. To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to befoul; to pollute.

They that touch pitch will be defiled .

Shak.

2. To soil or sully; to tarnish, as reputation; to taint.

He is . . . among the greatest prelates of this age, however his character may be defiled by . . . dirty hands.

Swift.

3. To injure in purity of character; to corrupt.

Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt.

Ezek. xx. 7.

4. To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate.

The husband murder'd and the wife defiled .

Prior.

5. To make ceremonially unclean; to pollute.

That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile therewith.

Lev. xxii. 8.

Defilement De·file"ment noun [ Confer French défilement . See Defile ] (Mil.) The protection of the interior walls of a fortification from an enfilading fire, as by covering them, or by a high parapet on the exposed side.

Defilement De·file"ment noun [ From 3d Defile .] The act of defiling, or state of being defiled, whether physically or morally; pollution; foulness; dirtiness; uncleanness.

Defilements of the flesh.

Hopkins.

The chaste can not rake into such filth without danger of defilement .

Addison.

Defiler De·fil"er noun One who defiles; one who corrupts or violates; that which pollutes.

Defiliation De·fil`i·a"tion noun [ Latin de- + filius son.] Abstraction of a child from its parents. Lamb.

Definable De·fin"a·ble adjective [ From Define .] Capable of being defined, limited, or explained; determinable; describable by definition; ascertainable; as, definable limits; definable distinctions or regulations; definable words. -- De*fin"a*bly , adverb

Define De·fine" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Defined ; present participle & verbal noun Defining .] [ Middle English definer , usually, to end, to finish, French définir to define, Latin definire to limit, define; de- + finire to limit, end, finis boundary, limit, end. See Final , Finish .] 1. To fix the bounds of; to bring to a termination; to end. "To define controversies." Barrow.

2. To determine or clearly exhibit the boundaries of; to mark the limits of; as, to define the extent of a kingdom or country.

3. To determine with precision; to mark out with distinctness; to ascertain or exhibit clearly; as, the defining power of an optical instrument.

Rings . . . very distinct and well defined .

Sir I. Newton.

4. To determine the precise signification of; to fix the meaning of; to describe accurately; to explain; to expound or interpret; as, to define a word, a phrase, or a scientific term.

They define virtue to be life ordered according to nature.

Robynson (More's Utopia).

Define De·fine" intransitive verb To determine; to decide. [ Obsolete]

Definement De·fine"ment noun The act of defining; definition; description. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Definer De·fin"er noun One who defines or explains.

Definite Def"i·nite adjective [ Latin definitis , past participle of definire : confer French défini . See Define .] 1. Having certain or distinct; determinate in extent or greatness; limited; fixed; as, definite dimensions; a definite measure; a definite period or interval.

Elements combine in definite proportions.

Whewell.

2. Having certain limits in signification; determinate; certain; precise; fixed; exact; clear; as, a definite word, term, or expression.

3. Determined; resolved. [ Obsolete] Shak.

4. Serving to define or restrict; limiting; determining; as, the definite article.

Definite article (Gram.) , the article the , which is used to designate a particular person or thing, or a particular class of persons or things; -- also called a definitive . See Definitive , noun - - Definite inflorescence . (Botany) See Determinate inflorescence , under Determinate . -- Law of definite proportions (Chemistry) , the essential law of chemical combination that every definite compound always contains the same elements in the same proportions by weight; and, if two or more elements form more than one compound with each other, the relative proportions of each are fixed. Compare Law of multiple proportions , under Multiple .

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