defendant, a. and n.
(dɪˈfɛndənt)
Also 4–6 -aunt, 6 -ante, 7 -ent.
[a. F. défendant (OF. deffendant), pr. pple. of défendre to defend; also used absol.]
A. adj.
† 1. Used as pres. pple. Defending; him self defendaunt = in his own defence. Obs.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 6890 Ȝif ich þi sone owhar a-slouȝ, It was me defendant anouȝ. c 1320 Sir Beues 660 Men ne slouȝ he nouȝt, Boute hit were him self defendaunt! |
2. Defending oneself, or an opinion, cause, etc., against attack; making one's defence; being defendant in a suit (see B. 3).
| 1596 Foxe's A. & M. 658/2 The defendant part was driven for a while to keepe silence. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 240 (R.) Then commeth an officer and arresteth the party defendant. 1682 Dryden King & Queen Epil. 16 'Tis just like puss defendant in a gutter. 1896 Daily News 24 Nov. 5/7 Detailing my instructions to the defendant surgeon. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 6 Dec. 9/1 The defendant directors. 1924 Pocket Oxf. Dict. s.v., The defendant company. |
† 3. Affording defence; defensive. Obs.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 8 With men of courage, and with meanes defendant. |
B. n.
† 1. a. A defender against hostile attack; opposed to assailant. Obs.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxiii. 398 The citye was so sore assayld on all partyes that the defendauntys wyste not where to make resystence. 1548 Hall Chron. 54 Neither the assailauntes nor defendantes loke for any refuge. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. v. iii. §15. 442 To beat the defendants from the Wall. 1731 J. Gray Gunnery Pref. 21 The defendants..of the city..were sorely gauled with all sorts of missive weapons. a 1787 R. Lowth Serm & Rem. 289 Had a potent enemy invaded Sodom..nothing could have inspired the defendants with truer courage, than virtue and the fear of God. |
† b. One who defends (an opinion, etc.). Obs.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 100 Nor will it be enough for a Defendant of that Hypothesis to say, etc. |
† 2. The party who denies the charge and accepts the challenge of the appellant in wager of battle.
| 1520 Caxton's Chron. Eng. vii. 143/2 Gloucestre..was the appellaunt and Arthur was the defendaunt. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 49 Ready are the Appellant and Defendant. a 1645 Heywood Fortune by Land ii. Wks. 1874 VI. 385 Neither challenger nor defendant are yet in field. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxiii, The Knight of Kinfauns, the challenger, and..the young Earl of Crawford, as representing the defendant. |
3. Law. A person sued in a court of law; the party in a suit who defends; opposed to plaintiff.
‘A {oqq}defendant{cqq} is originally a denier, but the notion of his protecting himself comes in early and prevails.’ Prof. F. W. Maitland.
| a 1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 361 And þat commune law hym be y-entred, þe axere and þe defendaunt. 1550 Crowley Last Trump. 923 Retained of playntyfe, or of defendaunt. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 47 The complainaunt commenseth his action, and the defendaunt thereupon answereth. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 361. 1809 J. Marshall Const. Opin. (1839) 123 The state cannot be made a defendant in a suit brought by an individual. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. xii, The counsel for the defendant threw up his brief. |
† 4. Phrase. in my, his (etc.) defendant: in one's defence. Obs.
[App. a corruption of me, him, defendant in A. 1.]
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶498 Whan o man sleeth another in his defendaunt. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. vii, Balyn that slewe this knyght in my defendaunt. |