But much that was useless has been discarded, and of what is left a defter and more distinctly literary use is made.
"A Short History of French Literature"
George Saintsbury
And if his perseverance lasts longer than her strength-for though a moose swings out in a long-stepping, swift trot, it is easily tired-the exhausted moose is a moose at bay; and a moose at bay rears on her hind legs and does defter things with the flattening blow of her fore feet than an exhausted man can do with a gun.
"The Story of the Trapper"
A. C. Laut
No one was defter and more successful in this handling of the flax over the fire than Elspie.
"Between Whiles"
Helen Hunt Jackson