defend

present singular third person defends · participle present defending · participle past defended · past defended · first person past singular defended · archaic present second person singular defendest · past second person singular defended · archaic past second person singular defendedst · present singular third person defends · archaic present singular third person defendeth · past singular third person defended · past plural defended · past subjunctive defended · participle present defending · participle past defended

1. To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard.
   1. ditransitivetransitiveTo ward off attacks against (something or someone).

      1 more example

      Most Zionists hoped for a state of their own, but early in the 20th century, writers like Hillel Solotaroff and Chaim Zhitlowsky, both Yiddish-speaking immigrant intellectuals in New York, imagined another alternative: a federation of self-governing anarchist communes in Palestine that would defend Jewish life without relying on state power.

      2019 July 15, Greg Afinogenov, “The Jewish Case for Open Borders”, in Jewish Currents, number Summer 2019

   2. ditransitiveintransitiveTo ward off attacks from (something or someone).
2. transitiveTo support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.

   Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday defended the code of conduct the Supreme Court created last year, but conceded there needs to be a way to enforce the rules for it to be more effective.

   2024 July 25, Devan Cole, “Justice Elena Kagan says Supreme Court’s code of conduct needs an enforcement plan. Takeaways from her wide-ranging comments.”, in CNN

3. transitivelawTo make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).

   Philip Miles, defending, said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."

   2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian

4. hobbiesTo focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
5. ball gamesMostly in tests. The action of not putting force into hitting a shot, but to conserve energy and wear down bowlers so they can attack later.

   The teams strategy was to defend but score runs as well for the first 20 overs.

6. hobbiesTo attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous instance of that competition.
7. slangcard gamesTo call a raise from the big blind.
8. obsoletetransitiveTo ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).

   The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone The stroke thereof from entrance may defend[…].

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

9. obsoletetransitiveTo prevent, to keep (from doing something).
10. intransitiveobsoletetransitiveTo prohibit, forbid.

    Broder said sir launcelot wete ye wel I am ful lothe to departe oute of this realme but the quene hath defended me soo hyhely that me semeth she wille neuer be my good lady as she hath ben

    “Brother”, said Sir Launcelot, “you know full well that I would be very reluctant to leave this kingdom, were it not that the queen had forbidden me so strongly to remain here, that it seems to me that she will never again be my lover as once she was”

    1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII