Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Old French defaute.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

defaute (plural defautes)

  1. lack, absence
    • c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1440–1450 in Bodleian Library MS. Fairfax 16, folio 130r:
      I have so many an ydel thoght / Purely for defaulte of slepe / That by my trouthe I take no kepe / Of noo thinge how hyt cometh or gooth / Ne me nys no thynge leve nor looth
      I have so many idle thoughts / Purely from lack of sleep / That I swear I take no heed / Of anything, whether it comes or goes, / And nothing is either dear to me or hated.
  2. failure to do something
  3. absence, failure to appear somewhere, especially (law) failure to appear in court
  4. lieu, stead, place
  5. need, poverty
  6. defect, blemish, flaw
  7. mistake, error
  8. crime, sin, wrong act
  9. fault, guilt, culpability, responsibility for something bad
  10. eclipse (of the sun)
  11. wane (of the moon)
  12. ebb (of the sea)

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • English: default

References edit

Old French edit

Noun edit

defaute oblique singularf (oblique plural defautes, nominative singular defaute, nominative plural defautes)

  1. lack; absence

Descendants edit

References edit