different between combe vs defile

English

Alternative forms

• comb
• coomb
• coombe

Etymology

From Middle English coumbe, cumbe, from Old English cumb, from Proto-Brythonic (compare Welsh cwm), from Proto-Celtic *kumb?. Doublet of cwm.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: ko?om, IPA^(key): /ku?m/
• Homophone: cwm
• Rhymes: -u?m

Noun

combe (plural combes)

1. A valley, often wooded and often with no river
   • 1914, Saki, ‘The Cobweb’, Beasts and Superbeasts:

   • 1805, Robert Southey, Madoc

2. A cirque.

Usage notes

Used, especially in South West England, in many placenames, e.g. Compton, Wycombe.

Translations

Further reading

• combe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Transalpine Gaulish *cumba, from Proto-Celtic *kumb?. Compare Breton komm (“river-bed”), Irish com, Welsh cwm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??b/

Noun

combe f (plural combes)

1. (geography) combe (valley or hollow, often wooded and with no river)

Further reading

• “combe” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

combe f

1. plural of comba

Middle English

Noun

combe

1. Alternative form of comb

Spanish

Verb

combe

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of combar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of combar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of combar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of combar.

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