Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Deferent

Deferent , adjective

[Latin deferens, present participle of deferre. See 3d Defer.]

Serving to carry; bearing. [Rare]
Bodies deferent. — Bacon

Deferent , noun

1.
That which carries or conveys.
Though air be the most favorable deferent of sounds. — Bacon
2.
(Ptolemaic Astronomy) An imaginary circle surrounding the earth, in whose periphery either the heavenly body or the center of the heavenly body's epicycle was supposed to be carried round.