Defile
[dɪ'faɪl]
Definition
(noun.) a narrow pass (especially one between mountains).
(verb.) place under suspicion or cast doubt upon; 'sully someone's reputation'.
Typed by Ferris--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To march off in a line, file by file; to file off.
(v. t.) Same as Defilade.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. See Defilade.
(v. t.) To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to befoul; to pollute.
(v. t.) To soil or sully; to tarnish, as reputation; to taint.
(v. t.) To injure in purity of character; to corrupt.
(v. t.) To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate.
(v. t.) To make ceremonially unclean; to pollute.
Typist: Robbie
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Soil, dirty, stain, tarnish, make foul or filthy.[2]. Sully, taint, pollute, corrupt, vitiate, debase, contaminate, poison.[3]. Violate, DEFLOUR, ravish.
v. n. File off, march in a line.
Edited by Bridget
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See CONTAMINATE]
Inputed by Jill
Definition
v.t. to pollute or corrupt: to violate.—ns. Defile′ment act of defiling: foulness; Defil′er.
v.i. to march off in file or line or file by file.—n. a long narrow pass or way in which troops can march only in file or with a narrow front.—v.t. Defilāde′ to plan a fortification so as to protect it from enfilading fire.—n. Defile′ment.
Typist: Marion
Examples
- Who shall tell how He between whom and the Woman God put enmity forged deadly plots to break the bond or defile its purity? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Go defile thyself, Primitivo said. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- He drew up his pistol, examined it, pointed it towards that point in the defile where the first man would appear. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- He only seemed to say, Defile not Heaven's anointed with unsanctified hands. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- I only desired he would lend me two clean shirts, which, having been washed since he wore them, I believed would not so much defile me. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- He did not use the word defile, but he expressed the idea very clearly. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- He wants a pure lily, another girl, with a baby face, on the one hand, and on the other, he MUST have the Pussum, just to defile himself with her. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Miss Bart caught the startled glance of Mr. Percy Gryce, whose own lips were never defiled by tobacco. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- He was a deacon in the church which had been defiled by the occupation of Union troops, and by a Union chaplain filling the pulpit. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- And into the straits of Royd Lane they accordingly defiled. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- A thick, yellow liquor defiles them, which is offensive to the touch and sight and more offensive to the smell. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Typist: Lolita