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
Derived 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.
He sat behind his card-strewn counter holding the stencil brush like a sort of weapon ready to besmear that face of sneering assurance if its owner ventured too near.
From Pee-Wee Harris by Fitzhugh, Percy Keese
In all history it has been shown that he who seeks to besmear others usually leaves the greatest amount of mud on himself.
From My Attainment of the Pole by Cook, Frederick A.
Of course, you will cut your beautiful locks, besmear your cheeks, and there you are.
From Six Women and the Invasion by Yerta, Gabrielle
I lose myself in the recollections of my childhood like an old man … I do not expect anything further in life than a succession of sheets of paper to besmear with black.
From The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters by McKenzie, Aimée G. Leffingwel
They fashion his image of kadamb7 wood and besmear it with red lead.
From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
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.
