defile

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: defilé, défile, défilé, and defilè

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /dɪˈfaɪl/
  • Rhymes: -aɪl
  • Audio (UK)
    		(file)

Etymology 1[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

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.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *puH-‎ (0 c, 17 e)
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

defile (plural defiles)

  1. A narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains.
    • 1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor (1991), p. 168:
      [...] these granite hills, thousands of feet high, were impracticable for heavy troops: the passes through them being formidable defiles, very costly to assault or cover.
    • 1958, Plutarch, Ian Scott-Kilvert (translator), "Life of Nicias" in Lives: The Fall of the Roman Republic
      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.
Translations[edit]
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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

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; to 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.
Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French défilé.

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

defìlē m (Cyrillic spelling дефѝле̄)

  1. march-past

Declension[edit]

Declension of defile
singular plural
nominative defìlē defilei
genitive defilèa defiléā
dative defileu defileima
accusative defile defilee
vocative defileu / defilee defilei
locative defileu defileima
instrumental defileom defileima

References[edit]

  • “defile” in Hrvatski jezični portal
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