<B>defoliation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a loss or shedding of leaves. <BR> <I>Ex. Defoliation helps keep mechanically picked cotton clean and free from leaves (Burt Johnson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defoliator">
<B>defoliator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a chemical that defoliates. <DD><B> 2. </B>an insect that strips trees of their leaves. </DL>
<A NAME="deforce">
<B>deforce, </B>transitive verb, <B>-forced,</B> <B>-forcing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) <DD><B> 1. </B>to deprive (a person) of property by force; keep (a person) from his property by force. <DD><B> 2. </B>to withhold (something) by force from the rightful owner. </DL>
<A NAME="deforcement">
<B>deforcement, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) the act or process of deforcing or state of being deforced. </DL>
<A NAME="deforciant">
<B>deforciant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) a person who deforces. </DL>
<A NAME="deforest">
<B>deforest, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to remove the trees from; clear of trees or forests. <BR> <I>Ex. The land had to be deforested before the settlers could farm it.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deforestation">
<B>deforestation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of deforesting or condition of being deforested. <BR> <I>Ex. By excessive deforestation and by the destruction of other vegetational cover, flood control is becoming increasingly difficult (Fred W. Emerson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deforester">
<B>deforester, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that clears land of trees or forests. </DL>
<A NAME="deform">
<B>deform</B> (1), transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to spoil the form or shape of. <BR> <I>Ex. Shoes that are too tight deform the feet.</I> (SYN) disfigure, misshape. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make ugly. <BR> <I>Ex. Hate and anger deformed the witch's face.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to change the form of; transform. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Physics.) to change the shape of by stress. <BR> <I>Ex. A metal crystal can be plastically deformed without fracture (J. Crowther).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to become deformed. </DL>
<B>deformable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be deformed. </DL>
<A NAME="deformalization">
<B>deformalization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or process of deformalizing or state of being deformalized. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the deformalization of social life and the clothes to wear for it (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deformalize">
<B>deformalize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to reduce the formal aspects of; make less formal. <BR> <I>Ex. to deformalize the structure of an organization.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deformation">
<B>deformation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of deforming. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) His modest deformation of his subject matter over the years has come to seem ... merely the masterly signature of his individualism (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a deformed condition; disfigurement. <BR> <I>Ex. A crippling disease caused deformation of his body. The twisted branches of that tree are deformations caused by the snow.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a change of form. <DD><B> 4. </B>a changed form. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Physics.) a change in the shape or dimensions of a body, resulting from stress; strain. <BR> <I>Ex. The application of similar heat cycles produced no deformation of cubic metals like lead and aluminium (F. A. Fox).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Geology.) <DD><B> a. </B>any change in the original state or size of rock masses, especially as produced by faulting. <DD><B> b. </B>an instance of this. </DL>
<B>deformer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person or thing that deforms. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in controversial use) the opposite of reformer. </DL>
<A NAME="deformity">
<B>deformity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>something in the shape of a body that is not as it should be, such as hump on the back. <BR> <I>Ex. a deformity of the hand.</I> (SYN) malformation. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being improperly formed. <BR> <I>Ex. Doctors can now cure many deformities.</I> (SYN) disfigurement. <DD><B> 3. </B>an improperly formed person or thing. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) moral disfigurement or ugliness. <BR> <I>Ex. the deformity of evil living, the criminal's deformity of conduct.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defraud">
<B>defraud, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to take money, rights, or other interests away from by fraud; cheat. <BR> <I>Ex. to defraud citizens of their rights. The company defrauded the government of millions of dollars in taxes.</I> (SYN) swindle, cozen. noun <B>defrauder.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="defraudation">
<B>defraudation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of defrauding or state of being defrauded. </DL>
<A NAME="defray">
<B>defray, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to pay (costs or expenses). <BR> <I>Ex. The expenses of national parks are defrayed by the taxpayers.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic.) to meet the expense of; pay for. adj. <B>defrayable.</B> noun <B>defrayer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="defrayal">
<B>defrayal, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> payment of costs or expenses. </DL>
<A NAME="defrayment">
<B>defrayment, </B>noun. =defrayal.</DL>
<A NAME="defrock">
<B>defrock, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to deprive of priestly dress and position; unfrock. <BR> <I>Ex. Adolf Lanz was a defrocked Roman Catholic priest who left the Church ... in 1899 (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defrost">
<B>defrost, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>to remove frost or ice from. <BR> <I>Ex. to defrost the refrigerator.</I> <DD><B> b. </B><B>=defog.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>to thaw out (frozen foods). <BR> <I>Ex. The fish was defrosted, cut into portions, well battered, and then fried (Listener).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to thaw out; become defrosted. <BR> <I>Ex. The weather was hot. The dinners defrosted (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defroster">
<B>defroster, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a device that removes frost or ice, either through heat or mechanically. Defrosters are used on the wings of planes and in refrigerators. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=defogger.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="deft">
<B>deft, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> quick and skillful in action; nimble; clever. <BR> <I>Ex. The fingers of a violinist or surgeon must be deft. ... one of the deftest juggling performances since the late W. C. Fields laid aside his Indian clubs (Time).</I> adv. <B>deftly.</B> noun <B>deftness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="deft">
<B>deft.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> defendant. </DL>
<A NAME="defuel">
<B>defuel, </B>transitive verb, <B>-eled,</B> <B>-eling</B> or (especially British) <B>-elled,</B> <B>-elling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to remove the fuel rods of a nuclear reactor. <BR> <I>Ex. Removal of the sump water, expected to be among the most difficult tasks of the clean-up operation, must be accomplished before full scale decontamination and defuelling of the reactor can begin (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defunct">
<B>defunct, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> no longer in existence; dead; extinct; deceased. <BR> <I>Ex. A business that fails is defunct.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> Usually, <B>the defunct.</B> a dead person or persons. <BR> <I>Ex. Accosting a servant ... he demanded the name of the defunct (Washington Irving).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defunctive">
<B>defunctive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Rare.) of or having to do with dying. <BR> <I>Ex. The cold Brussels sprout rolled off the page of the book I was reading and lay inert and defunctive in my lap (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defunctness">
<B>defunctness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality or condition of being defunct. </DL>
<A NAME="defuse">
<B>defuse, </B>transitive verb, <B>-fused,</B> <B>-fusing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to remove the fuze from (a bomb, mine, or other explosive device). <BR> <I>Ex. The bomb was expertly defused and trucked off to a bomb graveyard where the explosive filling could be steamed out in safety (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. [The President] has defused chronic student protest by releasing jailed students (Time). Miss Bacall defuses and obliterates every other talent on stage (Alistair Cooke).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defuser">
<B>defuser, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that defuses. </DL>
<A NAME="defy">
<B>defy, </B>verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying,</B> noun, pl. <B>-fies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to set oneself openly against (authority); resist boldly. <BR> <I>Ex. As soon as the boy was earning his own living he defied his father's strict rules. The thief defied the law and was arrested.</I> (SYN) brave. <DD><B> 2. </B>to be beyond the power of; withstand; resist. <BR> <I>Ex. This strong fort defies capture. Granite defies weathering more than sandstone.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to challenge (a person) to do or prove something. <BR> <I>Ex. We defy you to show that our game is not fair. Betty ... defied me to deny it (Richard D. Blackmore).</I> (SYN) dare. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Archaic.) to challengeto a combat or contest. <DD><I>noun </I> (Informal.) a challenge to a combat or contest. <BR> <I>Ex. So keyed-up during a race that he must shout a glad defy (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="defyingly">
<B>defyingly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> with defiance; defiantly. </DL>
<A NAME="deg">
<B>deg.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> degree or degrees. <BR> <I>Ex. Even in "cool" north Iraq the temperature for several weeks has been well over 100 deg. F. in the shade (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="degage">
<B>degage, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>easy in manner; not embarrassed; unconstrained. <BR> <I>Ex. We drift out, degage, a little blase, to find the Harvard men with whom we came (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Ballet.) having the working foot disengaged in readiness for a step. </DL>
<A NAME="degas">
<B>degas, </B>transitive verb, <B>-gassed,</B> <B>-gassing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to remove a gas from. <DD><B> 2. </B>to remove poison gas from. noun <B>degasser.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="degasification">
<B>degasification, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of degassing. </DL>
<A NAME="degasifier">
<B>degasifier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an agent that degasses. <BR> <I>Ex. The water is passed through a degasifier where the carbon dioxide is removed (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
