daub
Americanverb (used with object)
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daubs,
present (3rd person singular)
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daubed,
past participle, past
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daubing
present participle
-
to cover or coat with soft, adhesive matter, as plaster or mud.
to daub a canvas with paint; to daub stone walls with mud.
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to spread (plaster, mud, etc.) on or over something.
to daub plaster on a brick wall.
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to smear, soil, or defile.
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to apply, as paint or colors, unskillfully.
verb (used without object)
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daubs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
daubed,
past participle, past
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daubing
present participle
-
to daub something.
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to paint unskillfully.
noun
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material, especially of an inferior kind, for daubing walls.
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something daubed on.
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an act of daubing.
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a crude, inartistic painting.
verb
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(tr) to smear or spread (paint, mud, etc), esp carelessly
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(tr) to cover or coat (with paint, plaster, etc) carelessly
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to paint (a picture) clumsily or badly
noun
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an unskilful or crude painting
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something daubed on, esp as a wall covering See also wattle and daub
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a smear (of paint, mud, etc)
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the act of daubing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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daubsimple
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daubssimple
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have daubedperfect
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has daubedperfect
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am daubingprogressive
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are daubingprogressive
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is daubingprogressive
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have been daubingperfect progressive
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has been daubingperfect progressive
Past
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daubedsimple
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had daubedperfect
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was daubingprogressive
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were daubingprogressive
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had been daubingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of daub
1275–1325; (v.) Middle English dauben < Anglo-French, Old French dauber to whiten, paint < Latin dealbāre, equivalent to de-, prevocalic variant of dē- de- + albāre to whiten, derivative of albus white; (noun) late Middle English, derivative of the v.
Explanation
Whenever you smear something on a surface, you are daubing. Abstract Expressionists may have been able to daub a canvas with paint and sell it for millions, but you probably wouldn’t be so lucky. Daub can be used as a verb or as a noun, and is derived from the Old French debaur which comes from the Latin dealbare “to whiten.” It is also used to describe the process of covering a surface with an adhesive substance such as plaster, mud or grease. However, in its noun form, it means a smear of something. When you are ordering "a bagel with a smear," you could impress the guy at the deli by asking for "a daub" instead.
Vocabulary lists containing daub
Stroke of Genius: Words About Painting
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The Odyssey
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"Daedalus and Icarus"
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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.
See Examples For:
Each death is a daub of paint on a vast canvas, but for the bereaved, each opens up a gaping chasm of grief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2023
They're checking that their daub of Harry Kane, envisaged to occupy an entire wall, is complete.
From BBC ● May 28, 2023
Celebrants daub each other with vividly colored powders.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2022
Scully finds analogues in his home place for larger themes from art history, so in his 2015 “Doric Blue and Blue,” the grid resolves into the pure brushstroke, the squarish daub of Cézanne.
From Washington Post ● May 27, 2022
Above and below the church were our dwelling places, some forty cottages and huts of wattle and daub, thatch and wood, dirt and mud, all in varying shades of brown.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
The painter adds, as grace notes, eight daubs of red, two no larger than a speck, to the prevailing gray.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
After another row or two, Daignault’s canvases become increasingly abstract, finally dissolving into blurred daubs of color against black fields.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024
That incident aside, the only minor troubles Cathala can remember from his 28 years as an elected official are a few “very rare” trash fires and occasional daubs of graffiti.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2023
Whether slotting daubs of paint between the lines or sweeping color across them, the grid both confines and energizes simple subjects like mountains or trees, and intensifies elemental studies of form and color.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
The kid had an “honest-to-God genius” for spotting, amid the roadside rocks and grassy rubble, and the brown glow of thrown-away beer bottles, the emerald daubs that had once held 7-Up and Canada Dry.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Prosecutors also allege that slogans including "Free Gaza", "Free Palestine" and "Gaza is not for sale" were daubed on the course and buildings, along with offensive messages directed at Trump.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Martine Letterie, one of the campaign's organisers, said concentration camps were increasingly the target of vandalism, including far-right imagery daubed on sites.
From Barron's ● Mar. 19, 2026
On the front steps, insults daubed in spray paint were directed at both Mayor Karen Bass and President Trump.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
Red paint was also daubed over buildings and walls at the resort.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2025
Manet tore a piece of bread in half and daubed butter onto it.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
The final episode ended with Sullivan's Jimmy Corkhill daubing a "d" on the street sign so it read "Brookside Closed", before driving out of the cul-de-sac.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2025
French prosecutors said earlier this week they were investigating whether two Moldovans who admitted to daubing Stars of David on the walls of Parisian properties did so at the behest of someone abroad.
From Reuters ● Nov. 9, 2023
After an initiation ritual that involves daubing blood on the screen of her laptop, she contributes videos to a growing body of lore purporting to document the game’s sinister consequences.
From New York Times ● Apr. 13, 2022
In the Republic of Ireland police are investigating the daubing of black paint on a monument to Christopher Columbus in Galway - a gift from the city of Genoa.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 10, 2020
I wasn’t sure how he was going to get his boots back on, even after daubing the worst of the blisters with a paste made of baking soda.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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.
