besmear
Americanverb (used with object)
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to smear all over; bedaub.
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to sully; defile; soil.
to besmear someone's reputation.
verb
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to smear over; daub
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to sully; defile (often in the phrase besmear ( a person's ) reputation )
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of besmear
before 1050; Middle English bismeren, Old English besmerian. See be-, smear
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Madame Boche, in her turn, caught sight of Lantier and uttered a faint cry without ceasing to besmear her face with her tears.
From L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
It is because I am old and a hermit that you are trying to besmear my advice and belittle me before my lord the king.
From The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc by Robert S. Rudder
The women besmear themselves with the most disgusting filth.
From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia by Sir James George Frazer
To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster
The colours with which they besmear the bodies of both sexes possibly date from the same common origin.
From A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson by Watkin Tench
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
