Defile \De*file"\ (d[-e]*f[imac]l"), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
Defiled (d[-e]*f[imac]ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. Defiling.]
[F. d['e]filer; pref. d['e]-, for des- (L. dis-) + file a row
or line. See File a row.]
To march off in a line, file by file; to file off.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Defile \De*file"\, v. t. (Mil.)
Same as Defilade.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Defile \De*file"\ (d[-e]*f[imac]l" or d[=e]"f[imac]l; 277), n.
[Cf. F. d['e]fil['e], fr. d['e]filer to defile.]
1. Any narrow passage or gorge in which troops can march only
in a file, or with a narrow front; a long, narrow pass
between hills, rocks, etc.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mil.) The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the
exterior works in order to protect the interior. See
Defilade.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Defile \De*file"\ (d[-e]*f[imac]l"), v. t. [OE. defoulen,
-foilen, to tread down, OF. defouler; de- + fouler to trample
(see Full, v. t.), and OE. defoulen to foul (influenced in
form by the older verb defoilen). See File to defile,
Foul, Defoul.]
1. To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to
befoul; to pollute.
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They that touch pitch will be defiled. --Shak.
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2. To soil or sully; to tarnish, as reputation; to taint.
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He is . . . among the greatest prelates of this age,
however his character may be defiled by . . . dirty
hands. --Swift.
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3. To injure in purity of character; to corrupt.
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Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt.
--Ezek. xx. 7.
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4. To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate; to
rape.
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The husband murder'd and the wife defiled. --Prior.
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5. To make ceremonially unclean; to pollute.
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That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts,
he shall not eat to defile therewith. --Lev. xxii.
8.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
defile
n : a narrow pass (especially one between mountains) [syn: gorge]
v 1: place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; "sully someone's
reputation" [syn: sully, corrupt, taint, cloud]
2: make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air; also used
metaphorically; "The silver was tarnished by the long
exposure to the air"; "Her reputation was sullied after
the affair with a married man" [syn: tarnish, stain, maculate,
sully]
3: spot, stain, or pollute; "The townspeople defiled the river
by emptying raw sewage into it" [syn: foul, befoul, maculate]
WordNet (r) 2.0
271 Moby Thesaurus words for "defile":
abuse, abysm, abyss, access, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, aisle,
alley, alloy, ambulatory, aperture, arcade, arroyo, artery,
attaint, avenue, backpack, befoul, benasty, besmear, besmirch,
bespatter, betray, bewitch, blacken, blight, blot, blow upon,
bottleneck, box canyon, brand, breach, break, call names, canal,
canker, canyon, cavity, censure, channel, chap, chasm, cheapen,
check, chimney, chink, cleft, cleuch, cloister, clough, coarsen,
col, colonnade, communication, condemn, conduit, confound,
connection, contaminate, convert, corridor, corrupt, coulee,
couloir, covered way, crack, cranny, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm,
damage, debase, debauch, deceive, defalcate, defame, deflorate,
deflower, degenerate, degrade, dell, demoralize, denature,
denigrate, deprave, desecrate, despoil, destroy, devalue, dike,
dirty, disadvantage, disapprove, discolor, dishonor, disparage,
disserve, distort, distress, ditch, divert, do a mischief, do evil,
do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, donga, doom, draw, embezzle,
engage in personalities, envenom, excavation, exit, expose,
expose to infamy, fault, ferry, file, file off, fissure, flaw,
flume, footslog, force, ford, foul, fracture, furrow, gallery, gap,
gape, gash, get into trouble, gibbet, go on parade, goose-step,
gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hang in effigy, harass, harm,
heap dirt upon, hex, hike, hole, hurt, impair, incision, infect,
injure, inlet, interchange, intersection, isthmus, jinx, joint,
junction, kloof, lane, lead astray, leak, maladminister, maltreat,
march, march past, menace, mess, mess up, misapply, misappropriate,
misemploy, mishandle, mislead, mismanage, mistreat, misuse, moat,
molest, muckrake, mush, narrow, narrows, nasty, neck, notch,
nullah, opening, outlet, outrage, overpass, parade, pass, passage,
passageway, peculate, persecute, pervert, pilfer, pillory,
play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, portico,
prejudice, profane, promenade, prostitute, railroad tunnel, rape,
ravage, ravine, ravish, rent, reprimand, revile, rift, rime, ruin,
rupture, savage, scathe, scissure, seam, seduce, shame, slit, slot,
slur, smear, smirch, soil, split, spoil, stain, stigmatize, strait,
sully, taint, tar, tarnish, threaten, throat, throw mud at,
torment, torture, traject, trajet, tramp, trench, tunnel, twist,
ulcerate, underpass, valley, vilify, violate, vitiate, void,
vulgarize, wadi, warp, wound, wreak havoc on, wrong
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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