Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: French
Origin: différer, from Latin differre 'to delay, be different'. defer to 1400-1500 French déférer, from Late Latin deferre 'to bring down'

defer

 verb
     
de‧fer past tense and past participle deferred, present participle deferring [transitive]
to delay something until a later date [= put back]
defer something until/to something
Further discussion on the proposal will be deferred until April.
The committee deferred their decision.
—deferment noun [uncountable and countable]
—deferral noun [uncountable and countable]

defer to somebody/something

phrasal verb
to agree to accept someone's opinion or decision because you have respect for that person:
I will defer to your wishes.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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