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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 lor…

The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. In cases of defense 't is best to weigh The enemy more mighty than he seems. Shak.

indeed deficient in ease and variety. Macaulay. Deficient number. (Arith.) See under Abundant. -- De*fi"cient-ly, adv.

nness. Defilements of the flesh. Hopkins. The chaste can not rake into such filth without danger of defilement. Addison.

Aptly; fitly; dexterously; neatly. "Deftly dancing." Drayton. Thyself and office deftly show. Shak.

s; degeneration. The degradation of the species man is observed in some of its varieties. Dana.

d condition, or lacking certain parts. Some families of plants are degraded dicotyledons. Dana.

y; as, delicacies of the table. The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Rev. xviii. 3.

nd of a creditor; a note payable on demand. The demand [is] by the word of the holy ones. Dan. iv. 17. He that has confidence to turn his wishes into demands will be but a little way from thinking he ought to obtain them. Locke.

thing or to accept something); to reject; to decline; to renounce. [Obs.] "If you deny to dance." Shak.

To deprive of superabundant water, as by evaporation or distillation; to clear of aqueous matter; to rectify; -- used of spirits and acids.

ngly. His purpose was deprecated by all round him, and he was with difficulty induced to adandon it. Sir W. Scott.

Profoundness; extent or degree of intensity; abundance; completeness; as, depth of knowledge, or color. Mindful of that heavenly love Which knows no end in depth or height. Keble.

That may descend from an ancestor to an heir. "A descendant estate." Sir W. Jones.

That which is descended; descendants; issue. If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must be born to certain woe. Milton.

ruction of inhabitants; depopulation. Unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Dan. ix. 26.

e; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune.

In a desperate manner; without regard to danger or safety; recklessly; extremely; as, the troops fought desperately. She fell desperately in love with him. Addison.

Causing detriment; injurious; hurtful. Neither dangerous nor detrimental to the donor. Addison.

One who lives in accordance with prescribed rules for diet; a dieter.