All 3 Uses
defile
in
Murder in the Cathedral
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- And war among men defiles this world, but death in the Lord renews it, And the world must be cleaned in the winter, or we shall have only A sour spring, a parched summer, an empty harvest.†
Chpt 2 *defiles = spoils the beauty or purity of something
- The land is foul, the water is foul, our beasts and ourselves defiled with blood.†
Chpt 2defiled = spoiled the beauty or purity of something
- We are soiled by a filth* that we cannot clean, united to supernatural vermin, It is not we alone, it is not the house, it is not the city that is defiled, But the world that is wholly foul.†
Chpt 2
Definitions:
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(1)
(defile) to spoil the beauty or purity of somethingin 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
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) More rarely (but not uncommon in classic literature), defile can refer to a narrow valley or a march or passage through one.