DEFY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • 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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Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Defy" Quotes from Famous Books

... insufficient for those who defy it; useless for those who are already morally dead; excessive for those who repent with sincerity. Let us repeat it: society does not kill the murderer to cause him suffering, or to inflict the lex talionis; it kills him to prevent him from doing ...

— Mysteries of Paris, V3 • Eugene Sue

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... and the grand but uncanny scenery of these high plateaux has influenced the art and ideas of the natives. The climate made it natural that priests should congregate in roomy strongholds, able to defy the cold and contain the stores necessary for a long winter, and the massive walls seem to imitate the outline of the rocks out of which they grow. But the strange shapes assumed by mists and clouds, often dyed many colours by the rising or setting sun, suggest to the least imaginative ...

— Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Charles Eliot

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... seaward again. The wind still blew, but lightly, from the same quarter, and the sails would therefore be of no use. With their great oar-power they were confident that, once through the Danish flotilla, they could defy pursuit. ...

— The Dragon and the Raven - or, The Days of King Alfred • G. A. Henty

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... like you to think me one, darling! Still less would I like to deserve it, whether you thought me one or not! But I could not be a tyrant to you if I would. You may defy me ...

— The Flight of the Shadow • George MacDonald

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... grander scale. He only asks for a fraction of an acre in order to produce sufficient vegetables for a family; and to feed twenty-five horned beasts he needs no more space than he formerly required to feed one; his aim is to make his own soil, to defy seasons and climate, to warm both air and earth around the young plant; to produce, in a word, on one acre what he used to gather from fifty acres, and that without any excessive fatigue—by greatly reducing, on the contrary, the total of former labour. He knows that ...

— The Conquest of Bread • Peter Kropotkin

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