Verb

(secur)

To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.

* Dryden

I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, / Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight.

To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; frequently with against'' or ''from'', or formerly with ''of .

to secure''' a creditor against loss; to '''secure a debt by a mortgage

* T. Dick

It secures its possessor of eternal happiness.

To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.

to secure''' a prisoner; to '''secure a door, or the hatches of a ship

To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.

to secure an estate

* 2014 , Jamie Jackson, " Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real", The Guardian , 26 August 2014:

With the Argentinian secured United will step up their attempt to sign a midfielder and, possibly, a defender in the closing days of the transfer window. Juventus’s Arturo Vidal, Milan’s Nigel de Jong and Ajax’s Daley Blind, who is also a left-sided defensive player, are potential targets.

"[Captain] was able to secure some good photographs of the fortress." (Flight, 1911, p. 766)

* , chapter=3

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}

Verb

(en verb)

(obsolete) To ward off, repel (an attack or attacker).

*1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.viii:

*:The vertue is, that neither steele, nor stone / The stroke thereof from entrance may defend .

(obsolete) To prevent, to keep (from doing something).

(transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To prohibit, forbid.

*:

*:Broder said sir launcelot wete ye wel I am ful lothe to departe oute of this realme / but the quene hath defended me soo hyhely / that me semeth she wille neuer be my good lady as she hath ben

To ward off attacks from; to fight to protect; to guard.

To support by words or writing; to vindicate, talk in favour of.

(legal) To make legal defence of; to represent (the accused).

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Steven Morris, work=Guardian

, title= Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave , passage=Philip Miles, defending , said: "This was a single instance, there was no allegation of continuing behaviour over a long period of time."}}

(sports) To focus one's energies and talents on preventing opponents from scoring, as opposed to focusing on scoring.

(sports) To attempt to retain a title, or attempt to reach the same stage in a competition as one did in the previous edition of that competition.

(poker slang) To call a raise from the big blind.