defer

Meaning

  1. (transitive) To delay or postpone.
  2. (common, especially, transitive) To delay or postpone.
  3. 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).
  4. (intransitive) To delay, to wait.

Frequency

25k
Pronounced as (IPA)
/dɪˈfɜː(ɹ)/
Etymology

In summary

Originally a variant of (and hence a doublet of) differ; from Middle English differren (“to postpone”), from Old French differer, from Latin differō. Doublet of differ and dilate. See also infer, collate and confer, delate and defer, relate and refer as well as prelate and prefer among others.

Notes

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