defile

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈfaɪl/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

From Middle English defilen (“to make dirty”), alteration (due to Middle English defoulen, defoilen (“to trample, abuse”)) of Middle English befilen (“to defile, make foul”), from Old English befȳlan (“to befoul, defile”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- + *fūlijaną (“to defile, make filthy”). Cognate with Dutch bevuilen (“to defile, soil”). More at be-, file, foul.

defile (third-person singular simple present defiles, present participle defiling, simple past and past participle defiled)

1. (transitive) To make unclean, dirty, or impure; soil; befoul.
   • 1611, “Job 16:15”, in King James Bible:

     I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And defiled my horn in the dust.

   • 1911, The Forerunner, volume 2, page 271:

     “That's only dirt—it will brush off.” But he looked at me with his haggard hopeless eyes and said—— “It is mud. Black, slimy, horrible mud. I am defiled."

2. (transitive) To vandalize or add inappropriate contents to something considered sacred or special; desecrate

   To urinate on someone's grave is an example of a way to defile it.

3. (transitive) To deprive or ruin someone's (sexual) purity or chastity, often not consensually; stain; tarnish; mar; rape

   The serial rapist kidnapped and defiled a six-year-old girl.

• (make unclean): contaminate, pollute, spoil, sully; see also Thesaurus:dirty
• (vandalize something considered sacred): desecrate, profane; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
• (violate chastity of): ravish, violate, vitiate

• (make unclean): clean, purify; see also Thesaurus:make clean
• (vandalize something considered sacred): sanctify; see also Thesaurus:consecrate

Earlier defilee, from French défilé, from défiler (“to march past”), from file (“file”).

defile (plural defiles)

1. A narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains
   • Plutarch, "Life of Nicias", tr. Ian Scott-Kilvert, Penguin, p. 239:

     The next morning the enemy were on the march before him, seized the defiles, blocked the fords of the rivers, destroyed the bridges, and sent out cavalry to patrol the open ground, so as to oppose the Athenians at every step as they retreated.

2. A single file, such as of soldiers.
3. The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.

• glen

defile (third-person singular simple present defiles, present participle defiling, simple past and past participle defiled)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To march in a single file.
   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, p.138:

     They defiled down a gully to the water and bunched and jerked their noses at it and came back.

• e-filed

From French défilé.

• IPA^(key): /defǐleː/
• Hyphenation: de‧fi‧le

defìlē m (Cyrillic spelling дефѝле̄)

1. march-past

• “defile” in Hrvatski jezični portal