def

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See also: DEF and Def.

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /dɛf/
  • Audio (AU)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛf

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

def

  1. Abbreviation of deficit.
  2. Abbreviation of definition.

Etymology 2[edit]

Adverb[edit]

def

  1. Abbreviation of definitely.

Etymology 3[edit]

Clipping of definitive or definitely, alternately 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
    • 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

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. ^ Brent, Staples (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, f (plural defs)

  1. (Portugal, derogatory, somewhat dated) handicapped
    • 2015, “Mafalda Ribeiro: “Parti ossos 90 vezes. Mas agradeço sempre, até as dores””, in Visão‎[3]:
      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
    Não sejas def. ― Don't be retarded.
    Synonyms: deficiente, tecla 3; see also Thesaurus:idiot/translations

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]

Declension of def
singular plural
nominative dȅf dèfovi
genitive defa defova
dative defu defovima
accusative def defove
vocative defe defovi
locative defu defovima
instrumental defom defovima

See also[edit]

Wolof[edit]

Verb[edit]

def

  1. to do

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)
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