▪ I. defile, n.1
(ˈdiːfaɪl, dɪˈfaɪl)
Formerly 7–9 defilé, 8 defilee.
[a. F. défilé (17th c.), ppl. n. from défiler to defile v.2: the final -é was formerly often made -ee in Eng., but being generally written -e without accent, has come to be treated as e mute, the word being identified in form with defile v.]
1. Mil. A narrow way or passage along which troops can march only by files or with a narrow front; esp. (and in ordinary use) a narrow pass or gorge between mountains.
(α) defilé, defilee.
| 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 2064/2 They repassed the Defilés on the side of the Moras. 1698 Froger Voy. 62 They are surrounded with high Mountains; so that one cannot enter, or go out, but thro' a Defilé or narrow Passage. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3723/2 In a Defilee between a great Moras and the River Adige. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. xiv. 340 He was seized in the Defilees of those Mountains. 1796–7 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 259 The Regiment passes a defilé, and forms in line of divisions. 1830 E. S. N. Campbell Dict. Mil. Sc., Defilé. |
(β) defile.
| 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2161/1 A Valley, to which there was no passage but by a very narrow Defile. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. xx. 353 A long narrow Defile or Lane, which we were to pass to get through the Wood. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. xiv. 437 Constantine had taken post in a defile about half a mile in breadth, between a steep hill and a deep morass. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. lxii, By Thrasimene's lake, in the defiles Fatal to Roman rashness. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xx. 139 [The glacier] squeezes itself through the narrow defile at the base of the Riffelhorn. |
2. The act of defiling, a march by files. (Also as Fr., défilé.)
| 1835 in H. Greville Diary 65 (Stanf.) In the Place Vendôme, where the King placed himself for the défilé of the troops. 1880 C. E. Norton Church-build. Mid. Ages iii. 100 She watched the defile through her narrow and embattled streets of band after band of the envoys. |
▪ II. deˈfile, n.2 Fortif. rare.
[f. defile v.3]
The act of defilading a fortress.
| 1864 in Webster. |
▪ III. defile, v.1
(dɪˈfaɪl)
Also 5–6 defyle.
[An altered form of defoul, defoil, by association with file v. defoul, orig. a. OF. defouler ‘to trample down, oppress, outrage, violate’, had, by the 14th c., come to be associated with the Eng. adj. foul, and, in accordance with this, to be used in the sense ‘pollute’; in this sense Eng. had already the native verbs befoul and befile, also foul and file (the latter:—OE. f{yacu}lan umlaut deriv. of OE. f{uacu}l, foul); and the example of these synonymous pairs appears to have led to the similar use of defile beside defoul. What share, if any, the variant defoil had in the process does not appear.]
† 1. trans. To bruise, maul: cf. defoul v. Obs.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose (C) 7317 Men ne may..Tearen the wolfe out of his hide, Till he be slaine backe and side, Though men him beat and all defile [Fr. Ja tant n' iert batus ne torchies. Rime ‘beguile’]. |
2. To render (materially) foul, filthy, or dirty; to pollute, dirty; to destroy the purity, cleanness, or clearness of.
| [1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 185 Letters wryten were founde vndefilede at the end of the yere.] 1530 Palsgr. 509/2, I defyle, I araye or soyle a thing. Je salis..This garment is sore defyled. 1535 Coverdale Job ix. 31 Yet shuldest thou dyppe me in y⊇ myre, & myne owne clothes shulde defyle me. 1594 Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 165 An evyll birde that defiles hys own nest. 1626 J. Pyer in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 247 The French had so defiled that House, as a weeks worke would not make it cleane. 1846 Trench Mirac. xix. (1682) 325 It is not the agitation of the waters, but the sediment at the bottom, which troubles and defiles them. 1887 Stevenson Underwoods i. xxx. 63 While I defile the dinner plate. |
| fig. 1885 Prescott Philip II, I. ii. iii. 182 The stain of heresy no longer defiled the hem of her garment. |
3. To render morally foul or polluted; to destroy the ideal purity of; to corrupt, taint, sully.
| c 1325 [see defiled]. c 1450 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 104 I am..defyled with syne. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 63 Domician..was..in his last ȝeres al defiled witȝ vices. 1526–34 Tindale Mark vii. 15 Thoo thinges which procede out of him are those which defyle the man. 1555 Tract in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xliv. 126 Oh! miserable England, defiled with bloud by the Pope's sword! 16.. Stillingfleet (J.), God requires rather that we should die than defile ourselves with impieties. 1747 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 302 Christianity, free from the superstitions with which it is defiled in other countries. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 167 The best things in human life are liable to be defiled and perverted. |
† 4. To violate the chastity of, to deflower; to debauch. Obs. Cf. defoul 4.
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 5 She wold not be defylyde With spot or wem of man. 1530 Palsgr. 509/2, I defyle, I ravysshe a mayden of her maydenheed, Je viole..God defende that I sholde defyle her, and she a mayden. 1556 Aurelio & Isab. (1608) H j, She that..hathe lever to dey than to be defilede. 1611 Bible Gen. xxxiv. 2 Shechem the son of Hamor..tooke her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 1718 Prior Solomon iii. 453 The husband murder'd, and the wife defil'd. 1769 Blackstone Comm. iv. 208 It must..appear, that she was afterwards married, or defiled. |
5. To violate the sacredness or sanctity of; to desecrate, profane.
| [Cf. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 335 And þat þis haly place be fyled.] ? a 1500 Wyclif's Wycket (1828) 2 The armes of hyme shall stonde, and shall defyle the sanctuarye. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14 [They] dyfyled the house of the Lorde. 1611 Bible Neh. xiii. 29 They have defiled the priesthood. 1683 Burnet tr. More's Utopia (1684) 144 Those that defile the Marriage-Bed. |
b. To render ceremonially unclean.
| 1535 Coverdale Lev. xi. 44 Ye shal not defyle youre selues on eny maner of crepynge beest. 1611 Bible Lev. xxii. 8 That which dieth of it selfe..hee shall not eate to defile himselfe therewith. ― John xviii. 28 They themselves went not into the Iudgement hall, lest they should be defiled. 1882 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs i, It is a criminal offence..for a non-Hindu person to defile the food of even the lowest caste man. |
† 6. To sully the honour of, to dishonour. Obs.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 29 b, This foule mouthed Gentleman depraveth and defileth the death of that godly man. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 410 Come, recreant..Ile whip thee with a rod. He is defil'd That drawes a sword on thee. 1708 Swift Let. Sacram. Test, However his character may be defiled by such mean and dirty hands. |
† 7. absol. To cause defilement or filth; to drop excrement. Obs.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health 4 Asses and moyles dyd defyle within the precynct of the churche. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 456 This Pitch (as ancient Writers doe report) doth defile; so doth the companie thou keepest. |
† 8. intr. To become foul or unclean. Obs.
| 1673 J. Caryl Nat. & Princ. Love 79 If you do not daily sweep your houses they will defile. |
▪ IV. defile, v.2 Mil.
(dɪˈfaɪl)
[a. F. défiler (1648 in Hatzf.), f. de- I. 6 + file n., file.]
1. intr. To march in a line or by files; to file off. Also transf.
| 1705 A. R. Accompl. Officer vii. 90 Lest the Army being too long Defiling should be defeated by degrees, before it can form its Lines. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. x. 393 He began by making the troops defile. 1812 Examiner 24 Aug. 531/2 The division..defiled on the right. 1857 H. Miller Test. Rocks ii. 111 That long procession of being which..is still defiling across the stage. |
2. trans. To traverse by files. ? Obs.
| 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lvi. 293 He briskly attacked them, as they were defiling a lane. |
▪ V. deˈfile, v.3 Fortif. rare.
[a. F. défiler (14th c. desfilher to unthread, in Hatzf.), f. dé-, de- I. 6 + radical part of enfiler (= désenfiler): see enfile, enfilade.]
= defilade v.
| 1864 in Webster, and in later Dicts. |