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A defending weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the weapon's enhancement bonus to his AC as a bonus that stacks with all others. As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon's enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the bonus to AC lasts until his next turn.
My emphasis. And while I'm aware that the bolded part doesn't necessarily mean that you really HAVE to use the weapon (just as "look left and right before crossing the road" doesn't force me to actually cross after looking left and right) to get the defending effect I think it still gives a glimpse into what the developers intended.
No "weapon shaped rosary of AC" in my games, anyway. *shrug*