defile vs hackle

defile

noun
  • A single file of soldiers; (by extension) any single file. 

  • A narrow passage or way (originally (military), one which soldiers could only march through in a single file or line), especially a narrow gorge or pass between mountains. 

  • An act of marching in files or lines. 

  • An act of defilading a fortress or other place, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. 

verb
  • To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil. 

  • Synonym of defilade (“to fortify (something) as a protection from enfilading fire”) 

  • To act inappropriately towards or vandalize (something sacred or special); to desecrate, to profane. 

  • To make (someone or something) morally impure or unclean; to corrupt, to tarnish. 

  • To cause (something or someone) to become ritually unclean. 

hackle

noun
  • A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet. 

  • By extension (because the hackles of a rooster are lifted when it is angry), the hair on the nape of the neck in dogs and other animals; also used figuratively for humans. 

  • Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk. 

  • A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material. 

  • A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather. 

  • An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp. 

  • A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair. 

  • One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster. 

verb
  • To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel. 

  • To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning. 

How often have the words defile and hackle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )