To remove or spoil the distinctive features or facial characteristics of something or someone.
From Old French 'desfaiturer,' combining 'de-' (to undo) and 'feature' (from Latin 'factura,' meaning making or form). The word emerged in Middle English to describe the act of marring or disfiguring distinctive characteristics.
This word was particularly common in legal documents about vandalism and defacement in medieval times—courts would prosecute people for 'defeatureing' public monuments, which shows how seriously societies protected their symbols long before modern law.
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