Definition of "defend" []

• To make or keep safe from danger, attack, or harm. (verb-transitive)
• Sports To attempt to prevent the opposition from scoring while playing in or near (a goal or area of a field, for example). (verb-transitive)
• Sports To be responsible for guarding (an opposing player). (verb-transitive)
• Sports To compete against a challenger in an attempt to retain (a championship). (verb-transitive)
• To support or maintain, as by argument or action; justify. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Though Bush publicly denounced the leak, an unnamed Republican aide on Capitol Hill told the New York Times that the underlying White House strategy was to “slime and defend, ” that is to “slime” Wilson and “defend” Bush."
• "Jeffy Bovine might be still lurking around, or will come tomorrow with yet another moniker to again defend some teabagging domestic terrorist like himself."
• "Israel, and every country in the world, has a right to defend is borders."