defunct
verbEtymology Borrowed from Latin dēfunctus, past participle of dēfungor (“to finish, discharge”).
1
To make defunct.
defunct
adjUK, US /dɪˈfʌŋkt/ · US /ˌdiˈfʌŋkt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin dēfunctus, past participle of dēfungor (“to finish, discharge”).
1
No longer in use or active, nor expected to be again.
- [T]he engineer must solve the mysteries of boiler accidents by studying defunct structures of many different types.1880 January 1, The Locomotive, volume 1, number 1, Hartford, Conn.: The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection And Insurance Company, page 9:
2
Business No longer in business or service, nor expected to be again; out of business.
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Specifically, of a process: having terminated but not having been reaped (by its parent or an inheritor), and thus still occupying a process slot. See also zombie, zombie process.
4
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences (of a language) No longer spoken.
- When a language dies members of the culture of which that language was once a part may attempt to hold on to their linguistic heritage, if not by the use of the defunct language itself, at least by the preservation of its script.2007, J. N. Adams, “The Republic: inscriptions”, in The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600, Cambridge University Press, page 105:
5
Archaic Deceased, dead.
- The organs, though defunct and dead before, / Break up their drowsy grave and newly move1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
- Morgante at a venture shot an arrow, / Which pierced a pig precisely in the ear, / And passed unto the other side quite through; / So that the boar, defunct, lay tripped up near.1820 February (date written; published 30 July 1823), Luigi Pulci, “The Morgante Maggiore of Pulci”, in Lord Byron, transl., The Complete Poetical Works of Lord Byron […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published November 1907, →OCLC, canto I, stanza LXIII, page 560, column 2:
- Derived terms
- defunctness