defalcator (defalkator)

[ They should be allowed 9,500, to be defalked in nine and a half years out of their rent. State Trials : Lord Naas; Middle sex, an. 1624. ( E. D. ) Justin Martyr justified it to Tryphon, that the Jews had defalked many sayings from the books of the old prophets. Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), II. 326. The question is whether the damages sustained can be defalked against the demand in this action. Justice Sterrett , in Gunnis v. Cluff (Pa.), 1886. defaltt, n. and v. An obsolete variant of de fault . defamatet (def'a-mat), v. t. [ def a mat us (as adj.), diff am at us , pp. of diff am are , defame: see defame .] To defame; slander. defamation (def-a-ma's hon), n. [ diff a macioun , diff amation , F. diff amation = Pr. difamacio = Sp. dif a mac i on = Pg. diffamação = It. diff am azione , diffamatio ( n- ), diff a mare, defame: see defame .] The act of defaming; the wrong of injuring another's reputation without good reason or justification; aspersion. Thus others we with defamations wound, While they stab us; and so the jest goes round. Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, iv. 99. It is a certain sign of an ill heart to be inclined to def a mation . Dr. Dodd. [Formerly defamation was used more with reference to slander or spoken words. In modern use slander is spoken defamation and libel is published defamation. Both are subjects for civil action for damages. Libel alone is usually punishable criminally, the common test of criminality being that it tends to a breach of the peace.]=Syn. Detraction, aspersion, backbiting, scandal, libel.