defile

See also defilé, défile, and défilé

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɪl

Etymology 1

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- + *fūlijanan (“to defile, make filthy”). Cognate with Dutch bevuilen (“to defile, soil”). More at be-, file, foul.

Verb

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

1. (transitive) to make impure; to make dirty.

Translations

to make impure or dirty

Bulgarian: опетнявам (bg), осквернявам (bg) Finnish: tahrata (fi) French: souiller (fr), déflorer (fr) German: verunreinigen (de)

Romanian: spurca (ro) Russian: пачкать (ru), марать (ru) Spanish: ensuciar (es) Swedish: orena

Etymology 2

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

Noun

defile (plural defiles)

1. A narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains.
2. A single file, such as of soldiers.

Translations

narrow passage

Finnish: sola (fi)

single file

Finnish: jono (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: дефиле (bg) n., проход (bg) m. Croatian: klisura (hr) f., tjesnac (hr) m.

French: défilé (fr) Russian: узкий проход (ru), узкое место маршрута (ru), желоб (ru)

See also

• glen

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To march in a single file.

Translations

to march in a single file

Bulgarian: дефилирам (bg) Finnish: marssia jonossa (fi) French: défiler (fr)

Russian: дефилировать (ru) Swedish: defilera