All 5 Uses of
defer
in
Don Quixote
- The time for my departure arrived; I spoke one night to Luscinda, I told her all that had occurred, as I did also to her father, entreating him to allow some delay, and to defer the disposal of her hand until I should see what the Duke Ricardo sought of me: he gave me the promise, and she confirmed it with vows and swoonings unnumbered.†
Chpt 1.23-24
- …and promptly that between them they made the imposture look more true than truth; so he answered her thus: "I did not think, fair Camilla, that thou wert calling me to ask questions so remote from the object with which I come; but if it is to defer the promised reward thou art doing so, thou mightst have put it off still longer, for the longing for happiness gives the more distress the nearer comes the hope of gaining it; but lest thou shouldst say that I do not answer thy questions, I…†
Chpt 1.33-34
- ...whether we were to defer the business or put it in execution at once.
Chpt 1.39-40 *defer = postpone (put off until a later time)
- Dulcinea is perishing, thou art living on regardless, I am dying of hope deferred; therefore untruss thyself with a good will, for mine it is, here, in this retired spot, to give thee at least two thousand lashes.†
Chpt 2.59-50 *
- Do thou, therefore, O Rhadamanthus, who sittest in judgment with me in the murky caverns of Dis, as thou knowest all that the inscrutable fates have decreed touching the resuscitation of this damsel, announce and declare it at once, that the happiness we look forward to from her restoration be no longer deferred.†
Chpt 2.69-70
Definitions:
-
(defer as in: deferred the decision) delay or postpone (hold off until a later time)
-
(defer as in: deferred to her wishes) submit or yield (typically to another person's opinion because of respect for that person or their knowledge)