DEFACE
deface, disfigure, blemish
(verb) mar or spoil the appearance of; “scars defaced her cheeks”; “The vandals disfigured the statue”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
deface (third-person singular simple present defaces, present participle defacing, simple past and past participle defaced)
To damage or vandalize something, especially a surface, in a visible or conspicuous manner.
To void or devalue; to nullify or degrade the face value of.
(heraldry, flags) To alter a coat of arms or a flag by adding an element to it.
Synonyms
• (damage in a conspicuous way): disfigure, mar, obliterate, scar, vandalize
• (degrade the face value): cancel, devalue, nullify, void
Source: Wiktionary
De*face", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Defaced; p. pr. & vb. n. Defacing.]
Etym: [OE. defacen to disfigure, efface, OF. desfacier; L. dis- +
facies face. See Face, and cf. Efface.]
1. To destroy or mar the face or external appearance of; to
disfigure; to injure, spoil, or mar, by effacing or obliterating
important features or portions of; as, to deface a monument; to
deface an edifice; to deface writing; to deface a note, deed, or
bond; to deface a record. "This high face defaced." Emerson.
So by false learning is good sense defaced. Pope.
2. Etym: [Cf. F. défaire.]
Definition: To destroy; to make null. [Obs.]
[Profane scoffing] doth . . . deface the reverence of religion.
Bacon.
For all his power was utterly defaste [defaced]. Spenser.
Syn.
– See Efface.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition