defenses

1. 1
   protectionnoun

   Plural of defense.

   Engineers strengthened the coastal defenses ahead of the storm season.

   The body's natural defenses fight off most common infections.

   Note

   The American spelling's plural belongs to the senses of defense you can count: separate arguments, several legal cases, the strategies a team sets against an offense. When the word means the bare act of protecting, it usually stays singular. Plural phrases like the body's defenses or coastal defenses describe a layered system of distinct measures, not one act. The same spelling also serves as the sports verb.

2. 2
   blocks (sports)verb

   Third-person singular simple present of defense.

   The cornerback defenses the deep pass on nearly every down.

   She defenses the post position better than any other center in the league.

   Note

   Sports talk keeps this form alive: a player defenses a pass, a play or a position, blocking it with defensive tactics. It usually takes an object, though a team can simply be said to defense well. Outside sports, defend is the standard verb. The older meaning, to furnish with defenses or fortify, is archaic and belongs to period writing.

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