Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To fail.
  • To fail; leave in the lurch; disappoint.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To cause to fail.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete To cause to fail.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French défaillir to fail; prefix dé- (Latin de) + faillir. See fail, and compare default.

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Examples

  • And, therefore, let be good all that is good, and better all that is better, [265] for both they will defail and have an end; and choose thee the best with

    The Cell of Self-Knowledge : seven early English mystical treatises printed by Henry Pepwell in 1521 Henry Pepwell 1902

  • "There are a good many other points of defail which will, no doubt, come to light in good time.

    His Last Bow Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 1917

  • "There are a good many other points of defail which will, no doubt, come to light in good time.

    His Last Bow Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 1917

  • "There are a good many other points of defail which will, no doubt, come to light in good time.

    His Last Bow Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 1917

  • "There are a good many other points of defail which will, no doubt, come to light in good time.

    His Last Bow Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 1917

  • For she said that that was ever her business, to give herself to the exercise of prayer, so for to win the continual habit of prayer; for she did see well that by prayer all virtues are increased, and made mighty and strong; and, without prayer, they wax feeble and defail. [

    The Cell of Self-Knowledge : seven early English mystical treatises printed by Henry Pepwell in 1521 Henry Pepwell 1902

Comments

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  • When Le Nôtre decides to define

    And devise a new garden divine

    To deny a detail

    Wold be to defail

    And defile the delightful design.

    August 7, 2015