To cleanse or purify from foulness; to clean something that is dirty or contaminated.
From de- + foul. Foul comes from Old English and Germanic roots meaning 'dirty' or 'smelly'. The de- prefix indicates removal of foulness.
While not commonly used today, defoul appears in historical texts about cleaning rituals and sanitation—it's the linguistic opposite of befoul, meaning to clean rather than dirty.
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