defile

verb

1. (transitive)To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil.

   “[…] It is an euil birde that defiles his owne neſt, […]”

   “I have ſowed ſackcloth vpon my ſkin, and defiled my horne in the duſt.”

   “Spain might now boast that the stain of heresy no longer defiled the hem of her garment. But at what a price was this purchased!”

   “At mankind's feast, I take my place / In solemn, sanctimonious state, / And have the air of saying grace / While I defile the dinner plate.”

   ““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 make (someone or something) morally impure or unclean; to corrupt, to tarnish.

   “[T]here is no thynge with outt a man that can diffyle hym when hitt entreth in to hym⸝ but thoo thyngꝭ [things] which procede out of a mã [man] are thoſe which defyle a mã.”

   “Chr[istian]. VVhy, I tro you did not conſent to her deſires? / Faith[full]. No, not to defile my ſelf; for I remembred an old vvriting that I had ſeen, vvhich ſaith, Her ſteps take hold of Hell. [Proverbs 5:5] So I ſhut mine eyes, becauſe I vvould not be bevvitched with her looks: [Job 31:1] then ſhe railed on me, and I vvent my vvay.”

3. (transitive)To act inappropriately towards or vandalize (something sacred or special); to desecrate, to profane.

   “To urinate on someone’s grave is an example of a way to defile it.”

   “And all yͤ chiefe amonge the preſtes, and the people, multiplyed their ſynnes, acordinge to all the abhominacions of the Heythen, and dyfyled the houſe of the LORDE, which he had ſanctified at Jeruſalem.”

   “Remember them, O my God, becauſe they haue defiled the Prieſthood, and the couenant of the Prieſthood, and of the Leuites.”

   “The vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on Thursday makes defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag.”

4. (transitive)To cause (something or someone) to become ritually unclean.

   “What ſo euer crepeth vpon earth, ſhall be an abhominacion vnto you, and ſhal not be eaten. […] Make not youre ſoules abhominable, and defyle you not in them, to ſtayne youre ſelues: for I am the LORDE youre God. Therfore ſhal ye ſanctifie youre ſelues, that ye maye be holy, for I am holy. And ye ſhal not defyle youreſelues on eny maner of crepynge beeſt, that crepeth vpon earth: […]”

   “That which dieth of it ſelfe, or is torne with beaſts, hee ſhall not eate to defile himſelfe therewith: I am the Lord.”

5. (obsolete, transitive)To deprive (someone) of their sexual chastity or purity, often not consensually; to deflower, to rape.

   “The serial rapist kidnapped and defiled a six-year-old girl.”

   “And when Shechem the ſonne of Hamor the Hiuite, prince of the countrey ſaw her [Dinah], he tooke her, and lay with her, and defiled her.”

   “VVhat Tongue can ſpeak the reſtleſs Monarch's VVoes; / VVhen GOD, and Nathan vvere declar'd his Foes? / VVhen ev'ry Object his Offence revil'd, / The Husband murder'd, and the VVife defil'd, / The Parent's Sins impreſs'd upon the dying Child?”

6. (obsolete, transitive)To dishonour (someone).

   “Come recreant, come thou childe, / Ile vvhippe thee vvith a rodde. He is defil'd, / That dravves a ſvvord on thee.”

   “[H]is Character may be Defiled by ſuch Men and dirty Hands as thoſe of the Obſervator, or ſuch as employ him, […]”

7. (intransitive, obsolete)To become dirty or unclean.

   “[Y]ou vvill find if you do not daily ſvveep you houſes, they vvill defile; and the cob-vvebs they vvill grovv; the Spiders vvill be at vvork; and though your hearts be never ſo pure, Spiders vvill creep into them, […]”

8. (intransitive, obsolete)To cause uncleanliness; specifically, to pass feces; to defecate.

   “There is a thing Harry, vvhich thou haſt often heard of, and it is knovvne to many in our land by the name of pitch. This pitch (as ancient vvriters do report) doth defile, ſo doth the companie thou keepeſt: […]”

9. (also, archaic, figuratively, intransitive)To march in a single file or line; to file.

   “Without delay, he briſkly attacked them, as they were defiling from a lane and forming themſelves.”

   “Several bodies of troops defiled towards the frontiers under various pretences; and the whole being ſuddenly aſſembled, formed an army with which the duke of Guiſe [Francis, Duke of Guise] made an unexpected march towards Calais.”

   “As the multitude defiled into the square, the inquisitors took their place on the seats prepared for their reception.”

   “They [pigs] defiled down a gully to the water and bunched and jerked their noses at it and came back.”

10. (also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To march across (a place) in files or lines.
11. (also, figuratively, rare, transitive)Synonym of defilade (“to fortify (something) as a protection from enfilading fire”).

noun

1. (also, figuratively)A narrow passage or way (originally (military), one which soldiers could only march through in a single file or line), especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains.

   “VVe had one dangerous Place to paſs, vvhich our Guide told us, if there vvere any more VVolves in the Country, vve ſhould find them there; and this vvas in a ſmall Plain, ſurrounded vvith VVoods on every Side, and a long narrovv Defile or Lane, vvhich vve vvere to paſs to get through the VVood, and then vve ſhould come to the Village vvhere vve vvere to lodge.”

   “Conſtantine had taken poſt in a defile about half a mile in breadth, between a ſteep hill and a deep moraſs, and in that ſituation he ſteadily expected and repulſed the firſt attack of the enemy.”

   “[…] I roam / By Thrasimene's lake, in the defiles / Fatal to Roman rashness, more at home; […]”

   “[T]hese granite hills, thousands of feet high, were impracticable for heavy troops: the passes through them being formidable defiles, very costly to assault or cover.”

   “All three parallel valleys of the Llynvi, Garw and Ogmore are much the same in physical character: the lower reaches are wooded and not unattractive, but as the railway climbs on ever-steepening grades, the hills on either hand grow barer and closer together, while in all respects the scene becomes more sombre, with the terraced, slate-roofed colliery towns and the road, railway and river all struggling for space in the narrowing defiles.”

2. (also, figuratively)An act of marching in files or lines.
3. (also, figuratively)A single file of soldiers; (by extension) any single file.
4. (also, figuratively, rare)An act of defilading a fortress or other place, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.