2 uses
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Definition
to spoil the beauty or purity of something
in various senses, including:
- pollute a pristine lake
- harm a reputation or good name
- damage or disrespect something sacred
- take a person's virginity in a disrespectful way
- Only provoke me not overmuch to buffeting, lest thou anger me, and old though I be I defile thy breast and lips with blood.Book 18 (6% in)
- But Odysseus aimed and smote him with the arrow in the throat, and the point passed clean out through his delicate neck, and he fell sidelong and the cup dropped from his hand as he was smitten, and at once through his nostrils there came up a thick jet of slain man's blood, and quickly he spurned the table from him with his foot, and spilt the food on the ground, and the bread and the roast flesh were defiled.Book 22 (4% in)
There are no more uses of "defile" in The Odyssey by Homer (translated by: Butcher & Lang).
Typical Usage
(best examples)