def

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See also: DEF and Def.

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

def (plural defs)

  1. Abbreviation of definition.
    Synonym: def.
    • 1903, F[rederick] Stroud, The Judicial Dictionary, [], 2nd edition, London: Sweet and Maxwell; Stevens and Sons, page 454:
      In that case Wills, J., adopted a dictionary def of “Cowkeeper” as, “one whose business it is to keep cows,” and added, “the business of a Cowkeeper is a special business of its own.”
    • 2017, Kory Stamper, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 104:
      The Black Books also reflect [Philip Babcock] Gove’s notoriously brusque manner, no doubt gained from an early career in the Navy. Memos begin, “Editorializing has no place in definitions,” or “Godlove’s psychophysical defs of color names and their references had better be regarded as sacrosanct.” Sir, yes, sir!
  2. Abbreviation of deficit.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Adverb[edit]

def

  1. Abbreviation of definitely.
    i can def sneak out tn. where should i meet u?
    • 2022 Barbie: It Takes Two, episode 7 “Start Small“ at 15 minutes, Malibu to Brooklyn:
      And focus on cleaning the park. But we should def get waffle fries after.
    • 2023 September 19, Chaise Sanders, “50 Best Halloween Costumes of All Time, From the Classics to the Truly Unique”, in Cosmopolitan[3]:
      Not to toot our own horn, but we def had Austin Powers on VHS. This fun pop culture costume for couples may require some planning in advance to come up with these unique costumes, but trust us—it’ll pay off!

Etymology 3[edit]

Clipping of definitive or definitely; alternatively an eye spelling of death referring to an absolute.[1][2]

Adjective[edit]

def (comparative deffer, superlative deffest)

  1. (African-American Vernacular, slang) excellent; very good
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent
    • 1985, Ralph Farquhar, Krush Groove, spoken by Run (Joseph Simmons):
      You real def. I’m gonna put you on stage.
    • 1988, “Run’s House”, in Tougher Than Leather, performed by Run-DMC:
      See I do this thing, so come pursue this king / One minor rhyme is all you just bring / Cause I’m the best I’m def, ask the rest they left
    • 1988 February 7, Carly Darling, “L.A.—The Second Deffest City of Hip-Hop”, in Los Angeles Times[4]:
      L.A.—The Second Deffest City of Hip-Hop [title]
    • 1993, “Bring The Flavor”, in Black Reign, performed by Queen Latifah:
      I’m a Flavor Unit MC / And that means I’m one of the roughest, def-est, toughest, best-est

References[edit]

  1. ^ Safire, William (1988-09-25), “On Language: ‘Eat Your Peas’”, in The New York Times[1]: “Def, a clip of definitely is now the word for terrif, and on some campuses has out-neatened neat.”
  2. ^ Staples, Brent (1988-12-18), “On Language: ‘High on the Five’”, in The New York Times[2]:
    Failing to see the word's antecedents, I suspected that def was either bogus or an orphan, lost to its slang ancestors through mispronunciation or misspelling [] Three critics of popular music failed to provide me with satisfactory antecedents. One suggested that def was an abbreviation of definitely, another suggested deference and the third had no hunch at all [] Russell Simmons, a founder of the company [Def Jam Recordings], said that his partner, in designing the logo for the company’s record label, may have been the first to set def down in writing. Simmons also said that his associate had clearly misheard the word as it was then spoken in the streets. Def, Simmons said, was a mispronunciation of death.

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Adjective[edit]

def

  1. Alternative form of deef

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Clipping of deficiente.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

def m or f by sense (plural defs)

  1. (Portugal, derogatory, somewhat dated) handicapped
    • 2015, “Mafalda Ribeiro: “Parti ossos 90 vezes. Mas agradeço sempre, até as dores””, in Visão[5]:
      Referes-te a ti própria como a “Def”. Detestas o politicamente correto?
      You refer to yourself as the “Def” (handicapped). Do you hate political correctness?.
  2. (Portugal, derogatory, somewhat dated) retarded, idiot
    Synonyms: deficiente, tecla 3; see also Thesaurus:idiota
    Não sejas def.Don’t be retarded.

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish دف (def), from Persian دف (daf).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

dȅf m (Cyrillic spelling де̏ф)

  1. daf
  2. tambourine

Declension[edit]

See also[edit]

Wolof[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

def

  1. to do

Conjugation[edit]

References[edit]

Omar Ka (2018) Nanu Dégg Wolof, National African Language Resource Center, →ISBN, page 100

Zazaki[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Compare Persian دف (daf).

Noun[edit]

def

  1. daf (a Persian frame drum)