Both Uses of

defer
in
Great Expectations

I silently deferred to his experience.
p. 193.3 *

deferred = submitted or yielded

I deferred asking him about Miss Havisham until next day.
p. 495.7 *

deferred = delayed

Definitions:

(1) (defer as in: deferred the decision)
delay or postpone (hold off until a later time)
(2) (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)
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

More rarely, defer can be used to indicate showing respect or deference; as when Dickens wrote in Bleak House: "They know him there and defer to him."