defend

Meaning

To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard.
To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.
To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).
To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.
To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous edition of that competition.
To call a raise from the big blind.
To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).
To prevent, to keep (from doing something).
To prohibit, forbid.

From Middle English defenden, from Old French defendre, deffendre (Modern French défendre), from Latin dēfendō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-.

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