Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make foul or unclean; befoul; defile.
  • To trample upon; press down; crush, as by trampling.
  • noun Defilement; soiling.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To tread down.
  • transitive verb obsolete To make foul; to defile.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete To trample underfoot.
  • verb obsolete To physically crush or break.
  • verb obsolete To oppress, keep down.
  • verb obsolete To defile to chastity of; to debauch, to rape.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French defouler.

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Examples

  • And one withdraweth the wife of another, and none of them holdeth faith to another; but they defoul their law that Jesu

    The Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

  • And anon he sent and commanded that none of his liege men should defoul nor lie by no lady, wife nor maid; and when he came into the city, he passed to the castle, and comforted them that were in sorrow, and ordained there a captain, a knight of his own country.

    Le Morte d'Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory's book of King Arthur and of his noble knights of the Round table 2003

  • And anon he sent and commanded that none of his liege men should defoul nor lie by no lady, wife nor maid; and when he came into the city, he passed to the castle, and comforted them that were in sorrow, and ordained there a captain, a knight of his own country.

    Le Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table, Volume 1 1903

  • And by him be signified pride and covetise, which covet not to profit but to serve themselves, and they defoul much the church of God.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 1 1230-1298 1900

  • But when Aurelian saw that she had converted the two young men and the two virgins aforesaid, he led her into his chamber and made of enchanters to sing, and commanded the others to dance with him as he that would defoul Domicella, but the jugglers left singing, and the others dancing, and he himself ceased not to dance two days continually, unto the time that he expired and died tofore them all.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 3 1230-1298 1900

  • Then the other hermits demanded what thing it was, and he said that it was a great sorrow, for I have seen of great plenty of beasts which environed me, which feared all the country, and I wot well that this is to say that there shall come a great trouble of men like unto beasts, that shall defoul the sacraments of holy church.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 2 1230-1298 1900

  • To whom there came a young man for to defoul her, who was named Cradok, the son of a king named Alane, which young man burned in the concupiscence of her by the enticing of the fiend, which had envy at this holy virgin, Winifred.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 6 1230-1298 1900

  • And when the devil saw that he profited nothing, he transumed and transfigured him in the form of Justina for to defoul the fame of Justina, and in mocking Cyprian he advanced him that he had brought to him Justina.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 5 1230-1298 1900

  • Then commanded Paschasius that the ribalds of the town should come, to whom he delivered S. Lucy, saying: Call other to you for to defoul her, and labour her so much till she be dead.

    The Golden Legend, vol. 2 1230-1298 1900

  • Wilt thou defame thy sister's son, Giles Gosling? wilt thou defoul thine own nest, dishonour thine own blood? '

    Kenilworth Walter Scott 1801

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