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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Defile \De*file"\, verb (used with an object) (Mil.) Same as {Defilade}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Defile \De*file"\ (d[-e]*f[imac]l" or d[=e]"f[imac]l; 277), noun [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.
2. (Mil.) The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. See {Defilade}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Defile \De*file"\ (d[-e]*f[imac]l"), verb (used with an object) [OE. defoulen, -foilen, to tread down, OF. defouler; de- + fouler to trample (see {Full}, verb (used with an object)), 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.
They that touch pitch will be defiled. --Shak.
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. --Swift.
3. To injure in purity of character; to corrupt.
Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. --Ezek. xx. 7.
4. To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate; to rape.
The husband murder'd and the wife defiled. --Prior.
5. To make ceremonially unclean; to pollute.
That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile therewith. --Lev. xxii. 8.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Defile \De*file"\ (d[-e]*f[imac]l"), verb (used without an object) [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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
defile
noun: a narrow pass (especially one between mountains) [syn: {gorge}]
verb
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}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
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
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