Want or absence of something necessary for completeness or perfection; deficiency; -- opposed to superfluity. Errors have been corrected, and defects supplied. Davies.
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 -- any every foe. Pope. Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. Macaulay.
To fail; to become deficient. [Obs.] "Defected honor." Warner.
To injure; to damage. "None can my life defect." [R.] Troubles of Q. Elizabeth (1639).
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