defile

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to make dirty or impure; a narrow mountain pass

   Vandals defiled the monument with crude graffiti.

From Middle English defoulen ('to trample, pollute'), from Old French defouler ('to trample down'), later altered under influence of Old French defiler and the verb file. The noun sense 'narrow pass' comes separately from French défilé ('act of filing past'), from défiler ('to march in a line').

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