Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VIL'I-FY, v.i. [from vile.]

1. To make vile; to debase.; to degrade. Their Maker's Image Forsook them, when themselves they vilified To nerve ungovern'd appetite. Nam
2. To defame; to traduce; to attempt to degrade by slander. Many passions dispose us to depress and vilify the merit of one rising in the esteem of mankind. Addison. [This is the most usual sense of the verb.]