Deface

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Deface \De*face"\ (d[-e]*f[=a]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Defaced}
     (d[-e]*f[=a]st"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Defacing}.] [OE. defacen
     to disfigure, efface, OF. desfacier; L. dis- + facies face.
     See {Face}, and cf. {Efface}.]
     1. To destroy or mar the face or external appearance of; to
        disfigure; to injure, spoil, or mar, by effacing or


        obliterating important features or portions of; as, to
        deface a monument; to deface an edifice; to deface
        writing; to deface a note, deed, or bond; to deface a
        record. "This high face defaced." --Emerson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So by false learning is good sense defaced. --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. [Cf. F. d['e]faire.] To destroy; to make null. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              [Profane scoffing] doth . . . deface the reverence
              of religion.                          --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              For all his power was utterly defaste [defaced].
                                                    --Spenser.
  
     Syn: See {Efface}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  deface
       v 1: mar or spoil the appearance of; "scars defaced her cheeks";
            "The vandals disfigured the statue" [syn: {disfigure}, {blemish}]
       2: deface a building facade, for example

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  44 Moby Thesaurus words for "deface":
     batter, blemish, blot, check, cicatrize, contort, crack, craze,
     damage, deform, demolish, destroy, dilapidate, disfigure,
     disproportion, distort, dysphemize, flaw, harm, impair, injure,
     kink, look a fright, look a mess, look bad, look like hell,
     look something terrible, mangle, mar, misshape, mutilate, offend,
     offend the eye, ruin, scab, scar, scarify, split, spoil, truncate,
     twist, uglify, warp, wreck