All 9 Uses of

defer
in
Jane Eyre

He deferred his departure a whole week,
p. 473.1 *

deferred = postponed (delayed)

I asked, knowing, of course, what the answer would be, but yet desirous of deferring the direct question as to where he really was.†
p. 491.2

deferring = postponing

coming, like most other favours long deferred and often wished for, too late!†
p. 25.8

The afternoon was wet: a walk the party had proposed to take to see a gipsy camp, lately pitched on a common beyond Hay, was consequently deferred.†
p. 219.5

And then, to my great relief, Mr. Henry Lynn summoned them to the other side of the room, to settle some point about the deferred excursion to Hay Common.†
p. 221.9

It required some courage to disturb so interesting a party; my errand, however, was one I could not defer, so I approached the master where he stood at Miss Ingram's side.†
p. 257.2

"I know she had a particular wish to see me," I added, "and I would not defer attending to her desire longer than is absolutely necessary."†
p. 264.7 *

I hated the business, I begged leave to defer it: no — it should be gone through with now.†
p. 309.3

Jane, you don't like my narrative; you look almost sick — shall I defer the rest to another day?†
p. 353.9

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."