Defile

That reached, compensation for the ugly scenery we had to pass through began when we entered a beautiful mountain defile, about two hours from Damascus. ❋ William Henry Burton Wilkins (1897)

The defile was a death trap, where huge pistons shot out and slammed across from side to side. ❋ Richard Harland (2009)

A jagged chasm ran across the cavern, and on the other side of the defile was a writhing sea of furred flesh and sharp teeth. ❋ Anthony, Mark, 1966- (1995)

Before us the defile was a slit which was half choked by rock falls from above. ❋ Norton, Andre (1965)

Scattered along the bottom of the defile were the men who had fallen at the first fire, and Sanderson's eye glinted with rage when he looked at them; for he recognized some of them as men of the outfit for whom he had conceived a liking. ❋ Charles Alden Seltzer (1908)

Sapientum_ -- 'a fountain of abundant water, which no heats of summer can ever dry, which no flood can ever defile, which is as a water of life, to them that thirst for life, a stream of cleansing to them that would be pure, and a medicine of such healing virtue that by it, through the might of God and the intercession of His saints, the most grievous wounds are made whole. ' ❋ Arthur Machen (1905)

The points which it was necessary to take to command the defile were the town of Arcola and a bridge over the rapid stream on which the town day. ❋ Tarbell, Ida (1899)

The ice is found in a narrow defile, which is hemmed in by perpendicular sides of trap-rock, and displays a perfect chaos of fallen blocks of stone. ❋ Unknown (1881)

A large proportion of these were peace offerings, which afforded to the people the means of festive enjoyment. all Israel ... from the entering in of Hamath -- that is, the defile at ❋ Unknown (1871)

No explanations were forthcoming why the enemy should have allowed the force to pass through the defile, without obstruction, when a determined body of riflemen could have kept the whole of them at bay; for the artillery could not have been brought into position, as the defile was the most difficult, of its kind, that a British division had ever crossed. ❋ Walter Paget (1867)

The defile was the key of the position; and both sides fought therein with equal fierceness. ❋ Sutherland Menzies (1861)

The defile was a long and narrow pass shut in between a high mountain, Callidromus, and the sea, and crossed at one point by a line of wall in which was a single gateway. ❋ George Rawlinson (1857)

The consequence is that the Rocky Mountains and the ulterior regions, from the Russian possessions in the north down to the Spanish settlements of California, have been traversed and ransacked in every direction by bands of hunters and Indian traders; so that there is scarcely a mountain pass, or defile, that is not known and threaded in their restless migrations, nor a nameless stream that is not haunted by the lonely trapper. ❋ Irving, Washington, 1783-1859 (1850)

A wild shout from every height of the defile was the answer. ❋ Benjamin Disraeli (1842)

Russian possessions in the north down to the Spanish settlements of California, have been traversed and ransacked in every direction by bands of hunters and Indian traders; so that there is scarcely a mountain pass, or defile, that is not known and threaded in their restless migrations, nor a nameless stream that is not haunted by the lonely trapper. ❋ Unknown (1837)

For the defile was a little more open at the top just then, so that he could see the actions of the bears plainly as they came on some sixty yards behind; and he grasped the knowledge now that they were not hunting him by sight, but by scent, and that though, as a rule, they came along with their noses in the air, every now and then they lowered their muzzles and snuffled eagerly about some block of stone, uttering low, pig-like grunts. ❋ George Manville Fenn (1870)

But I am going to go ahead and "defile" your board. ❋ Unknown (2009)

At half-past ten they passed through a kind of defile, the Boers a thousand feet above them following every movement by ear, if not by eye. ❋ G. W. Steevens (N/A)