DEFEND • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Defend

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/dɪfˈɛnd/ Listen

verb

Defend v. t. (past & past part. defended; pres. part. defending)

1.

To ward or fend off; to drive back or away; to repel. (A Latinism & Obs.) "Th' other strove for to defend The force of Vulcan with his might and main."

2.

To prohibit; to forbid. (Obs.) "Which God defend that I should wring from him."

3.

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 lord mayor craves aid... to defend the city." "God defend the right!" "A village near it was defended by the river."

4.

(Law.) To deny the right of the plaintiff in regard to (the suit, or the wrong charged); to oppose or resist, as a claim at law; to contest, as a suit.

Synonyms: To Defend, Protect. To defend is literally to ward off; to protect is to cover so as to secure against approaching danger. We defend those who are attacked; we protect those who are liable to injury or invasion. A fortress is defended by its guns, and protected by its wall. "As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it." "Leave not the faithful side That gave thee being, still shades thee and protects."

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Etymology of 'Defend'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Defend" Quotes from Famous Books

... too adroit a fencer to yield readily to such a fate. Careful, at first, only to defend himself, he met each thrust and pass with a parry which deepened the frown on Winter's brow, and having retreated to the edge of the duelling ground, he there held his position despite the fierceness ...

— The Fifth of November - A Romance of the Stuarts • Charles S. Bentley

... necessary, as their conduct has been bad in this campaign, and their licentious ferocity seems pretty well tamed by the public contempt. Such of them as return in straggling and fugitive parties to the metropolis, have not spirit nor credit enough to defend themselves from the insults of the mob; the very children taunt them, and the populace spit in their faces as they pass. They refused, during the battle, to lend their assistance to save the baggage and the military ...

— Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M--y W--y M--e • Lady Mary Wortley Montague

... son of the Vrishni race, O thou irrepressible one, in thy absence today Salwa, coming to Dwaraka, hath by main force killed Vasudeva! Therefore, no need of battle any more. Cease, O Janardana! Do thou defend Dwaraka! This is thy principal duty!—Hearing these words of his, my heart became heavy, and I could not ascertain what I should do and what I should not. And, O hero, hearing of that great misfortune, I mentally censured Satyaki, and Baladeva, and also that mighty pradyumna. ...

— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli

... (ROK) was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in the north (the DPRK). During the Korean War (1950-53), US troops and UN forces fought alongside soldiers from the ROK to defend South Korea from DPRK attacks supported by China and the Soviet Union. An armistice was signed in 1953, splitting the peninsula along a demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter, South Korea achieved rapid economic growth with per capita income rising to roughly ...

— The 2008 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... to you when I have refused two sisters? Princes! think you that you could defend me against heaven? To surrender yourselves to the serpent, whose coming I must await here, is but a despair ill-becoming great hearts; and to die when I die is to overwhelm a sensitive, soul, that already has ...

— Psyche • Moliere

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