Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Defer

Defer , transitive verb

[Old English differren, French différer, from Latin differre to delay, bear different ways; dis- + ferre to bear. See Bear to support, and compare Differ, Defer to offer.]

To put off; to postpone to a future time; to delay the execution of; to delay; to withhold.
Defer the spoil of the city until night. — Shakespeare
God... will not long defer To vindicate the glory of his name. — Milton

Defer , intransitive verb

To put off; to delay to act; to wait.
Pius was able to defer and temporize at leisure. — J. A. Symonds

Defer , transitive verb

[French déférer to pay deference, to yield, to bring before a judge, from Latin deferre to bring down; de- + ferre to bear. See Bear to support, and compare Defer to delay, Delate.]

1.
To render or offer. [Obsolete]
Worship deferred to the Virgin. — Brevint
2.
To lay before; to submit in a respectful manner; to refer; -- with to.
Hereupon the commissioners... deferred the matter to the Earl of Northumberland. — Bacon

Defer , intransitive verb

To yield deference to the wishes of another; to submit to the opinion of another, or to authority; -- with to.
The house, deferring to legal right, acquiesced. — Bancroft