DEFILE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.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

... not think of virtue, but of vice; or of praise either, because they are always finding fault with their neighbours. The man who loves a foul story, or a coarse jest—the woman who gossips over every tittle tattle of scandal which she can pick up against her neighbour—what do these people do but defile their own souls afresh, after they have been washed clean in the blood of Christ? Foul their souls are, and therefore their thoughts are foul likewise, and the foulness of them is evident to all men by their tongues. Out ...

— The Gospel of the Pentateuch • Charles Kingsley

... entered the Buryea or Hingan mountains. This chain extends across the valley of the Amoor at nearly right angles, and the river flows through it in a single narrow defile. The mountains first reach the river on the northern bank, the Chinese shore continuing low for thirteen miles higher up. There are no islands, and the river, narrowed to about half a mile, flows with a rapid current. In some places it runs five miles an hour, and its depth is from ...

— Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar - Life • Thomas Wallace Knox

... sunrise, and the weather was perfect. After two short portages and two small lakes were crossed, Pete said, "Now we make last portage and we reach Michikamau." It was not a long portage—a half mile, perhaps. We passed through a thick-grown defile, Pete ahead, and I close behind him. Presently we broke through the bush and there before us was the lake. We threw down our packs by the water's edge. We had reached Michikamau. I stood uncovered as I looked over the broad, far-reaching waters of the great lake. I cannot ...

— The Long Labrador Trail • Dillon Wallace

... But if there is no other woman in the house and she must continue to do the household work herself, she does not throw them away until the last day. [29] Similarly she must not sleep on a cotton sheet or mattress during this time because she would defile it, but she may sleep on a woollen blanket as wool is a holy material and is not defiled. At the end of the period she proceeds to a stream and purifies herself by bathing and washing her head with earth. When a woman is with child for the first time her women friends come and ...

— The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV - Kumhar-Yemkala • R.V. Russell

... report which was occasionally justified, and which the king of the Thafurs took care to encourage. This respectable monarch was frequently in the habit of stopping his followers, one by one, in a narrow defile, and of causing them to be searched carefully, lest the possession of the least sum of money should render them unworthy of the name of his subjects. If even two sous were found upon any one, he was ...

— The Talisman • Sir Walter Scott

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