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The lord or officer who defended the marches or borders of a territory.

A covering for the hand, worn to defend it from cold or injury. It differs from a glove in not having a separate sheath for each finger. Chaucer.

en extended either in a right line or an arc of a circle before a port which it serves to defend from the violence of the waves, thus protecting ships in a harbor; also, sometimes, the harbor itself. Brande & C.

The act of supporting or defending. [Obs.]

f me, as the object of the first person of a reflexive verb, without emphasis; as, I will defend myself.

bust, or other erect ornament. hence, any similar position, literal or figurative. Images defended from the injuries of the weather by niches of stone wherein they are placed. Evelun.

actions of debt. -- Nihil dicit Etym: [L., he says nothing] (Law), a declinature by the defendant to plead or answer. Tomlins.

or the public a prosecution; either wholly, or as to some count, or as to some of several defendants.

A plea, by the defendant, in a criminal prosecution, which, without admitting guilt, subjects him to all the consequences of a plea of quilty.

The return of a sheriff on a writ, when the defendant is not found in his county. Bouvier.

times entered by order of the court, for the plaintiff, notwithstanding a verdict for the defendant. Stephen.

Default of apperance, as in court, to prosecute or defend; failure to appear.

The omission of some person who ought to have been made a plaintiff or defendant in a suit, or of some cause of action which ought to be joined.

A plea of a defendant that he did not hold the land, as affirmed.

a leaque that requires all the parties to it to make war together against any foe, and to defend one another if attacked.

To attempt; to undertake. All that offer to defend him. Shak.

cally, one who attacks some theirs or proposition, in distinction from the respondent, or defendant, who maintains it. How becomingly does Philopolis exercise his office, and seasonably commit the opponent with the respondent, like a long-practiced moderator! Dr. H. More.

proach of an enemy; hence, anything for defense placed at a distance from the thing to be defended.

A hearing or an inspection, as of a deed, bond, etc., as when a defendant in court prays oyer of a writing. Blackstone. Oyer and terminer (Law), a term used in England in commissions directed to judges of assize about to hold court, directing them to hear and determine cases brought before them. In the U.S. the phrase…

An intercepting mound, erected in any part of a fortification to protect the defenders from a rear or ricochet fire; a traverse. Farrow.