defile vs winnow

defile

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. 

noun
  • 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. 

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

  • 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. 

winnow

noun
  • That which winnows or which is used in winnowing; a contrivance for fanning or winnowing grain. 

  • The act of winnowing 

verb
  • To blow upon or toss about by blowing; to set in motion as with a fan or wings. 

  • To separate, sift, analyse, or test by separating items having different values. 

  • To subject (granular material, especially food grain) to a current of air separating heavier and lighter components, as grain from chaff. 

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