Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POL-LUTE, v.t. [L. polluo; Fr. polluer. If this word is compound, as I suspect, it seems to be composed of the preposition po, which is in the Russian language and retained in the L. polluceo and possideo, and according to Ainsworth, of lavo. But this combination would not naturally give the signification. If the word is simple, the first syllable coincides with foul. But neither is this etymology satisfactory. Qu. Gr. μολυνω.]

1. To defile; to make foul or unclean; in a general sense. But appropriately, among the Jews, to make unclean or impure, in a legal or ceremonial sense, so as to disqualify a person for sacred services, or to render things unfit for sacred uses. – Num. xviii. Exod. xx. 2 Kings xxiii. 2 Chron. xxxvi.
2. To taint with guilt. Ye pollute yourselves with all your idols. – Ezek. xx.
3. To profane; to use for carnal or idolatrous purposes. My sabbaths they greatly polluted. – Ezek. xx.
4. To corrupt or impair by mixture of ill, moral or physical. Envy you my praise, and would destroy / With grief my pleasures, and pollute my joy? – Dryden.
5. To violate by illegal sexual commerce.