noun

1. failure to do something or be somewhere when required or expected; specif.,
   1. failure to pay money due
   2. failure to appear in court to defend or prosecute a case
   3. failure to take part in or finish a contest
2. Comput. a preset choice, setting, etc. for automatic use as by a program when no other is specified by a user: often used attributively a default disk drive on a PC
3. Obsolete a fault, lack, or want

Etymology: ME < OFr defaute < VL *defallita, pp. of *defallere, to lack < L de-, away + fallere, to fail

intransitive verb

1. to fail to do something or be somewhere when required or expected; specif.,
   1. to fail to make payment when due
   2. to fail to appear in court when required
   3. to fail to take part in or finish a contest
2. to lose a contest by default

Etymology: ME defauten < OFr defauter

transitive verb

1. to fail to do, pay, finish, etc. (something) when required
2. to lose (a contest, etc.) by default; forfeit