defer

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɜː(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɝ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: de‧fer

Originally a variant of (and hence a doublet of) differ; from Middle English differren (“to postpone”), from Old French differer, from Latin differō.

defer (third-person singular simple present defers, present participle deferring, simple past and past participle deferred)

1. (transitive) To delay or postpone.

   We're going to defer the decision until we have all the facts.

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii], page 141, column 2:

     Deferre the ſpoile of the Citie vntill night:

   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 65:

     My journey to Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, was now again determined upon.

   1. (especially more common, historically) to postpone induction into military service.
2. (American football) After winning the opening coin toss, to postpone until the start of the second half a team's choice of whether to kick off or receive (and to allow the opposing team to make this choice at the start of the first half).
3. (intransitive) To delay, to wait.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 34, lines 474–476:

     God […] will not long defer / To vindicate the glory of his name

• differ

From late Middle English differren (“to refer for judgement”), from Middle French déférer, from Latin dēferō.

defer (third-person singular simple present defers, present participle deferring, simple past and past participle deferred)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To submit to the opinion or desire of others in respect to their judgment or authority.
   • 1622, Francis Bacon, History of the Reign of King Henry VII:

     Hereupon the commissioners […] deferred the matter to the Earl of Northumberland.

   • 1885, W.S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, The Mikado:

     "Defer/Defer/To the Lord High Executioner."

   • 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:

     "Well, I must defer to your judgment. You are captain," he said with marked civility.

2. To render, to offer.
   • 1872, Daniel Brevint, Saul and Samuel at Endor:

     worship deferred to the Virgin

• deference

• freed, refed

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈdeː.fer/, [ˈd̪eːfɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.fer/, [ˈd̪ɛːfer]

dēfer

1. second-person singular present active imperative of dēferō