different between valley vs defile

English

Etymology

From Middle English valey, valeye, from Anglo-Norman valey, Old French valee (compare French vallée), from Latin vall?s/vallis. Doublet of vlei.

Pronunciation

• enPR: v?l'?, IPA^(key): /?væli/
• Rhymes: -æli

Noun

valley (plural valleys)

1. An elongated depression between hills or mountains, often with a river flowing through it.

   Synonyms: (poetic) vale; see also Thesaurus:valley
2. The area which drains into a river.
3. Any structure resembling one, e.g., the meeting point of two pitched roofs.
4. The internal angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.

Hyponyms

• closed-cut valley
• open valley

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• dale
• dell
• vale

Anagrams

• y'all've

Manx

Noun

valley

1. Lenited form of balley.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??fa?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English defilen (“to make dirty”), alteration (due to Middle English defoulen, defoilen (“to trample, abuse”)) of Middle English befilen (“to befoul, to defile, to make foul”), from Old English bef?lan (“to befoul, defile”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- + *f?lijan? (“to defile, make filthy”). Equivalent to de- +? file. Cognate with Dutch bevuilen (“to defile, soil”). More at de-, file, be-, and foul.

Verb

defile (third-person singular simple present defiles, present participle defiling, simple past and past participle defiled)

1. (transitive) To make unclean, dirty, or impure; soil; befoul.
2. (transitive) To vandalize or add inappropriate contents to something considered sacred or special; desecrate

3. (transitive) To deprive or ruin someone's (sexual) purity or chastity, often not consensually; stain; tarnish; mar; rape

Synonyms

• (make unclean): contaminate, pollute, spoil, sully; see also Thesaurus:dirty
• (vandalize something considered sacred): desecrate, profane; see also Thesaurus:desecrate
• (violate chastity of): ravish, violate, vitiate

Antonyms

• (make unclean): clean, purify; see also Thesaurus:make clean
• (vandalize something considered sacred): sanctify; see also Thesaurus:consecrate

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Earlier defilee, from French défilé, from défiler (“to march past”), from file (“file”).

Noun

defile (plural defiles)

1. A narrow way or passage, e.g. between mountains.
   • 1958, Plutarch, Ian Scott-Kilvert (translator), "Life of Nicias" in Lives: The Fall of the Roman Republic

     The next morning the enemy were on the march before him, seized the defiles, blocked the fords of the rivers, destroyed the bridges, and sent out cavalry to patrol the open ground, so as to oppose the Athenians at every step as they retreated.

2. A single file, such as of soldiers.
3. The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior.

Translations

See also

• glen

Verb

defile (third-person singular simple present defiles, present participle defiling, simple past and past participle defiled)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To march in a single file; to file.
   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, p.138:

     They defiled down a gully to the water and bunched and jerked their noses at it and came back.

Translations

Anagrams

• e-filed

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From French défilé.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /def?le?/
• Hyphenation: de?fi?le

Noun

defìl? m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. march-past

Declension

References

• “defile” in Hrvatski jezi?ni portal