From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Deface \De*face"\ (d[-e]*f[=a]s"), verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Defaced} (d[-e]*f[=a]st"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Defacing}.] [OE. defacen to disfigure, efface, OF. desfacier; L. dis- + facies face. See {Face}, and cf. {Efface}.]
1. To destroy or mar the face or external appearance of; to disfigure; to injure, spoil, or mar, by effacing or obliterating important features or portions of; as, to deface a monument; to deface an edifice; to deface writing; to deface a note, deed, or bond; to deface a record. ''This high face defaced.'' --Emerson.
So by false learning is good sense defaced. --Pope.
2. [Cf. F. d['e]faire.] To destroy; to make null. [Obs.]
[Profane scoffing] doth . . . deface the reverence of religion. --Bacon.
For all his power was utterly defaste [defaced]. --Spenser.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
verb
1: mar or spoil the appearance of; "scars defaced her cheeks"; "The vandals disfigured the statue" [syn: {disfigure}, {blemish}]
2: deface a building facade, for example
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
44 Moby Thesaurus words for "deface": batter, blemish, blot, check, cicatrize, contort, crack, craze, damage, deform, demolish, destroy, dilapidate, disfigure, disproportion, distort, dysphemize, flaw, harm, impair, injure, kink, look a fright, look a mess, look bad, look like hell, look something terrible, mangle, mar, misshape, mutilate, offend, offend the eye, ruin, scab, scar, scarify, split, spoil, truncate, twist, uglify, warp, wreck
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