DEFY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Defy

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/dɪfˈaɪ/ Listen

verb

defy v. t. (past & past part. defied; pres. part. defying)

To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. (Obs.) "I defy the surety and the bond." "For thee I have defied my constant mistress."

To provoke to combat or strife; to call out to combat; to challenge; to dare; to brave; to set at defiance; to treat with contempt; as, to defy an enemy; to defy the power of a magistrate; to defy the arguments of an opponent; to defy public opinion. "I once again Defy thee to the trial of mortal fight." "I defy the enemies of our constitution to show the contrary."

noun

defy n. A challenge. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Defy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Defy" Quotes from Famous Books

... divan of their own, called Eljma, who settle all disputes between man and man. These people cultivate the plains, when there is no khalif in Suse; but when there is, they retire to the fastnesses in their mountains, and defy the arm of power; satisfying themselves with the ...

— An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa • Abd Salam Shabeeny

... you. Shall I tell you what I will do—what I am resolved to do, now that I know what your conduct has been? I will, go back to this poor girl whom you turned out of my doors, and ask her to come back and share my home with me. I'll defy the pride which persecutes her, and the pitiless suspicion which insults her ...

— The History of Pendennis, Vol. 2 - His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy • William Makepeace Thackeray

... transported by water. If it were worth his while, an enemy disposing of an active cruising force strong enough to make its way into the neighbourhood of the coast waters concerned would interrupt the 'long-shore traffic' and defy the efforts of a localised force to prevent him. The history of the Great War at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth teems with instances of interruption by our navy of the enemy's coast-wise ...

— Sea-Power and Other Studies • Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge

... by provincial bodies called Parlements partaking of the nature of high courts of justice, and in Germany by the local Diets (Landtag) of the larger states, exercised a very real and in some cases a decisive influence on public policy. The monarch of half the world dared not openly defy the Cortes of Aragon or of Castile; the imperious Tudors diligently labored to get parliamentary sanction for their tyrannical acts, and, on the few occasions when they could not do so, hastened to abandon as gracefully as possible their previous intentions. In Germany the power of the Diet was ...

— The Age of the Reformation • Preserved Smith

... any modern opera can be sung according to the laws of bel canto and enough singers exist, unfortunately, to justify this assertion) save that the music is not so well sung, according to the old standards, as it was then. No singer has had quite the courage to entirely defy tradition, to refuse to study with a teacher, to embody her own natural ideas in the performance of music, to found a new school ... but there have ...

— The Merry-Go-Round • Carl Van Vechten

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