DEFILE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Defile

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noun

Defile n.

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.

2.

(Mil.) The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. See Defilade.

verb

Defile v. t. (Mil.) Same as Defilade.

Defile v. t.

1.

To make foul or impure; to make filthy; to dirty; to befoul; to pollute. "They that touch pitch will be defiled."

2.

To soil or sully; to tarnish, as reputation; to taint. "He is... among the greatest prelates of this age, however his character may be defiled by... dirty hands."

3.

To injure in purity of character; to corrupt. "Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt."

4.

To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate; to rape. "The husband murder'd and the wife defiled."

5.

To make ceremonially unclean; to pollute. "That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile therewith."

Defile v. i. (past & past part. defiled; pres. part. defiling) To march off in a line, file by file; to file off.

See images of 'Defile'

Etymology of 'Defile'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Defile" Quotes from Famous Books

... used to be astounded by the inroads of the northern Indians coming down upon them from this mountain rampart through some defile known only to themselves. It is, indeed, a wondrous path. A demon, it might be fancied, or one of the Titans, was travelling up the valley, elbowing the heights carelessly aside as he passed, till at length ...

— The Great Stone Face - And Other Tales Of The White Mountains • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... try as he would, could not disguise from him that this was what he had done. Because of Ranny's wife, Respectability, the enduring soul of the Randalls and the Ransomes, could never lift up its head superbly any more. All infamies and all abominations that could defile a family were summed up for John Randall in the one word, adultery. It was worse than robbery or forgery or bankruptcy; it struck more home; it did more deadly havoc among the generations. It excited more interest; it caused more talk; and therefore it marked you more and was not so easily forgotten. ...

— The Combined Maze • May Sinclair

... A heavy column of Brown infantry was swinging in toward the myriad-legged, writhing gray caterpillar on the pass road and many field-batteries were trotting along a parallel road. Their plan developed suddenly when a swath of gun-fire was laid across the pass road at the mouth of the defile, as much as to say: "Here we make a gate of death!" At the same time the head of the Brown infantry column flashed its bayonets over the crest of a hill toward the point where the shells were bursting. These men minded not the desperate, scattered rifle-fire into their ranks. Before their ...

— The Last Shot • Frederick Palmer

... with her now. It is her prayer; and, oh, think, how weak is the vanity of this pride in a situation like yours. How idle the stern and stubborn spirit, when men can place you in bonds—when men can take away life and name—when men can hoot and hiss and defile your fettered and enfeebled person! It was for a season and a trial like this, Guy, that humility was given us. It was in order to such an example that ...

— Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia • William Gilmore Simms

... auction were so coarse and vile that it is impossible to defile these pages with an accurate and faithful description. Lincoln saw it all. He saw a beautiful mulatto girl exhibited like a race-horse, her "points" dwelt on, one by one, in order, as the auctioneer said, that "bidders might satisfy themselves whether ...

— The Life of Abraham Lincoln • Henry Ketcham

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